Peter Grant Watt

Peter Grant Watt

Personal Information
Date of Birth	13 Jun 1899
Place of Birth	Leith, Scotland
Death	25 Feb 1968, aged 68
Place of Death	East Cannington, Western Australia
Age at Enlistment	18 years
Description	5'9" (1.75m) tall ; 126lbs 57.153 kg ; fair complexion ; blue eyes ; fair hair
Occupation	Labourer
Religion	Church of England
Address	Gosnells, Western Australia
Next of Kin	Father , Mr Peter Watt
Military Information
Reg Number	8054
Date of Enlistment	28 Mar 1917
Rank	Private
Unit/Formation	11th Battalion, 27th Reinforcement
Date of Embarkation	30 Oct 1917 ‒ 27 Dec 1917
Ship Embarked On	HMAT A60 Aeneas Melbourne to Devonport
Date of Return	12 Dec 1918 ‒ 18 Jan 1919
Ship Returned On	HMAT A71 Nestor
Fate	WIA 30 Jul 1918 Returned to Australia
Monument	Gosnells Road Board Honour Roll Gosnells Primary School Honour Roll Gosnells Ward Honour Roll
Medals	British War Medal Victory Medal

Pre War

Migrated to Australia on the SS Belgic, leaving Liverpool, and arriving in Fremantle on 11 Jun 1912. He was accompanied by his mother Julia 35, brothers John 15, and James 10, and sister Isabella 7.

War Service

Peter entered Blackboy Hill camp on 4 Apr 1917, and several days later was allocated to the Trench Mortars as a Gunner and was therefore after preliminary training in Western Australia he was sent east to Seymour in regional Victoria for specialised training on 18 May 1917. On 8 Sep 1917 he had finished that phase of his training and he was then sent to the Infantry Depot at Broadmeadows camp on the outskirts of Melbourne. On 17 Sep 1917 he was formally allocated again to the 11th Battalion, in the form of their 27th Reinforcements and sent to England.

On arrival he was sent to the 2nd Training Battalion at Sutton Veny to prepare for France, and from 26 Mar 1918 until 4 May 1918 Peter was a participant in an NCO Course at Jallalabad Barracks in Taunton, Somerset. He was admitted to the Tidworth Military Hospital with scabies on 20 Apr 1918, and was released two days later after treatment. Peter proceeded overseas to Le Havre in France on 3 Jun 1918 through Folkestone. On arrival he spent several days in the Australian Infantry Base Depot before joining the 11th Battalion on 11 Jun 1918 at Secus west of Hazebrouck.

Peter's individual record shows him being wounded on 31 Jul 1918, however, the 11th Battalion's War Diary suggests that he was one of the casualties suffered as they came out of the lines and were hit by a stray artillery round, killing two men and wounding another eight on 30 Jul 1918. His wounds are described then as 'head and knee'. Admitted to the 3rd Field Ambulance on 31 Jul 1918, he was passed on to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station the same day, and then transferred on 12 Aug 1918 to the 9th British Red Cross Hospital in Calais. On 21 Aug 1918 he was transferred again, this time to the 3rd General Hospital in Le Tréport, before being evacuated to England on 24 Aug 1918 with a sprained knee and shell wounds to his head and knees.

Later the same day he was admitted to the Dudley Road Section of the 1st Southern General Hospital in Birmingham, before being released to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital on 23 Oct 1918. On 28 Oct 1918 he was transferred to the No. 2 Command Depot.

On his return to Australia, he was discharged by the 5th Military District on 8 Feb 1919.

Post War

During 1925, Peter married Alma Doreen Mason (b.1903) in Cannington. Alma died in Mt Lawley on 9 Nov 1974 aged 71. A son Reginald Grant L was born in 1928 and two daughters followed.

Electoral Roll entries: 1925 - 1937 Railway parade East Cannington, carter; 1943 at 36 Sunbury road, Victoria Park, linesman; 1949 at 32 Temple street, Victoria Park, linesman; 1958 - 1963 at 23 Henry street, Cannington, PMG Linesman.

In WW2 Peter enlisted in the Citizens Military Forces twice: first in Victoria Park on 3 Apr 1941 as a Lance Sergeant Regimental Number W751, in the 10th Light Horse Regiment; and then on 16 May 1942 in Narrogin he was enlisted as W56432, with rank and unit unknown.