A Footscray Lad at Gallipoli and the Western Front in WWI
Hallett Shueard
CORPORAL WILLIAM ARTHUR AGAR
1895-1977
Will Agar was a typical 19 year-old knockabout lad living in Footscray, a western suburb of Melbourne, when he enlisted in the Army Medical Corps (AMC) in October 1914. When he arrived off Gallipoli Peninsula on the 25 April 1915 on the other side of the world, nothing could have prepared him for the horrors of that fateful day. The decks of his ship were awash with the blood of the first wave of Anzac troops who had already landed on Gallipoli. Although later injured he was to remain in that ‘hell on earth’ until September, only to replace Gallipoli with The Western Front. Will was one of the fortunate ones though - he survived WWI and went on to lead a full life until his death in 1977.
Today, Will’s legacy is preserved in the lives of his many descendants. This book commemorates Will and documents his war record, now fittingly published one hundred years on since his ship arrived at Anzac Cove in 1915.