We remember: Harold Wisewould

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A century on from the end of World War I we acknowledge their service …
Lest we forget.

Private Harold Wisewould
Born: 27 August 1891 Tocumwal. Died on active service: 4 December 1915 (at sea, near Alexandria, Egypt).
Enlisted: 22 February 1915
Served: Egypt and Gallipoli.

Harold was the first of four Wisewould brothers to enlist, while a fifth volunteered but did not pass the medical examination. His older brother James, who enlisted three weeks after Harold, was assigned to the same unit. They subsequently left Australia together on HMAT Euripides on 10 May 1915 and were then sent to Gallipoli, where they served in the same trench for three months. On 24 November 1915, James was wounded in the trenches at Lone Pine when a comrade’s rifle accidentally discharged whilst being cleaned. Harold assisted in carrying his wounded brother down to Anzac Cove to be evacuated. Harold himself had to be evacuated a few days later suffering from pneumonia. His condition was described as being “pretty bad”. He died on 4 December 1915 just as the hospital ship Dongola was entering Alexandria Harbour. James, who was on a different hospital ship, died the previous day en-route to Malta and was buried at sea. When their father Edward Wisewould received the envelope, he read that James had been killed. It was only the next day when he went back to read the telegram again that he noticed the second telegram!

This is an extract from Patrick Ferry’s book A Century After The Guns Fell Silent – Remembering the Pakenham District’s WWI Diggers 1914-18.
For more details on this and other profiles in the book, head to the website www.pakenhamww1.com