The Soldier's Details

Surname:
Philp
First Name:
William Hawksley
Nick Name:
Bill or Baldy
Rank:
Private
Regimental #:
WX7902
Classification:
Driver
Company:
Headquarters Company
Enlisted:
13.08.1940
DOB:
17.12.1907
Place of Birth:
Mt Barker, Western Australia
Father's Name:
William John Philp
Mothers's Name:
Maud Ethel Philp
Religion:
Church of England
Pre-war Occupation:
Bus Driver
Memorial:
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Collective Grave, Plot 10, Row A, Grave 1-4, Age 35.
Singapore:
Selarang Camp and Barracks Changi
Force:
D' Force Thailand, V Battalion
POW#:
1/8982 & 2283
Cause of Death:
Malaria
Place of Death:
Kuii
Date of Death:
8.09.1943
Buried:
Grave No. 169, Kuii

General Description

Bill was wounded in action and admitted to Australian General Hospital on 12.2.1942 with a bayonet wound to his right thigh. Discharged to unit 20.2.1942.
No photograph of this soldier

 

 

EPSON MFP image
Note written by Baldy Philp to his mate Lofty Holdman WX7465

 

Both men did not survive to return home to their families.
Today they both rest at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery with 90 mates from the 2/4th.

 

 

Please read about ‘H’ Force Thailand V Battalion and Kuii Camp
William ‘Bill’ Philp died of Malaria at Kuii, Thailand on 18th September 1943.
His wife Verna and their three children were residing in Collie when Bill enlisted AIF Aug 1940, later joining 2/4th MGB Headquarter Company No. 3 Platoon as a Driver – as had Norm Holdman.  (Norm however was AWOL when ‘Aquitania’ sailed from Fremantle to Singapore on 16 Jan 1942 – read further)
His parents William and Maude Philp were residing in Claremont. Bill Philp had one sister and one brother.

 

Bill’s name is forever remembered at the WW2 War Memorial, Collie.

 

Philp W H
Philp W H

 

Violet (Verna) Philp remarried 1948 and was widowed again in June 1959 when her husband Charles A. Budd died aged 38 years.
Verna died in 1987 at Collie, aged 76 years.

 

Camp Locations:

  • Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
  • Kuii, Kui Yae, 185.6k - Thailand
Back