William Vincent Hayes

HAYES, William Vincent- – – – SPC 1905-1908

DoB:– – 1892, Grafton, NSW

Father:– – William Hayes

Mother:- – Mary Catherine, nee McGannon

Service No:- 3056

Rank:- – Private

Unit:– – 33rd Battalion

William Vincent Hayes enlisted on 15 September 1916, aged 24 years and two months. He was five feet, six inches tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He worked as a shop assistant, and was unmarried at the time of his enlistment.

Private Hayes embarked from Sydney aboard the Anchises on 24 January 1917, disembarking at Devonport, England three months later. He marched in to AIF Details Fovant in March, and then in to the 9th Training Battalion at Durrington Camp on 7 April 1917.

Private Hayes proceeded overseas to France on 19 March 1918, as part of the reinforcements to the 33rd Battalion. He was gassed in France on 24 April, and invalided back to England. He rejoined the 33rd Battalion in late December 1918.

The medical report prepared for Private Hayes stated that despite being gassed in April 1918, with a resultant -‘cough and bad eyes’, his general health was -‘fair’. He still (August 1919) had a cough with expectoration, which was negative for TB, and had lost his sense of smell.

Private Hayes returned to Australia in August 1919 aboard the Wiltshire. From what the College could establish, William Vincent lived in NSW for the remainder of his life. He married Pearl Hetherington in 1926. The College could not find out if they had any children.

William Vincent Hayes died in 1942, aged 50.