Born at Gloucester, NSW on the 24th of May 1911, William was the elder of 2 sons to Daniel and Isabel Redman. William married Enid Martha (nee Morgan) in 1934 at Gloucester and resided in Hume St, Gloucester.
Enlisting on the 9th of July 1941, William marched into General Details Depot, Sydney before being taken on strength with the 2/12th Field Company Royal Australian Engineers, Bathurst on the 11th of July. The next day he was appointed sec group I Blacksmith.
On the 29th of July the Field Company embarked in Sydney for Singapore arriving on the 15th of August. On arrival they were sent into Malaya to build up defences at the Johore Bahru area. William was confirmed as a Blacksmith on the 9th of October from acting sub spec T.E.I. A week later he reported to the 2/4th Casualty Clearing Station suffering a pain in the right hip and was transferred on the 26th to the 2nd Convalescent Depot.
The Japanese invasion of the Malayan peninsular which commenced on the 7th of December, initially had little impact on the unit. William was transferred to the 10th Australian General Hospital suffering tinea on Boxing Day and transferred to the 2nd Convalescent Depot on the 2nd of January 1942. On the 6th he was transferred to the 3rd General Hospital.
While William was in hospital in mid-January, the 2/4th moved to Segamat, where it now had to prepare key points for demolition, and from here they progressively moved south to Singapore. By late January they were at Bukit Timah on Singapore Island where they were tasked with building strong defences in the Causeway Sector before being outflanked by the Japanese landing in the Northwest Sector. They moved with the 27th Infantry Brigade Group to MacRitchie Reservoir before being forced back into the final AIF perimeter where they surrendered on the 15th of February 1942. Like so many, William was ‘Reported Missing’ on the 16th of February.
Following their invasion success, the Japanese forces distributed the large numbers of prisoners to various lock-up facilities. In July 1942, the Japanese POW camps in Sandakan received about 1,500 Australians, most of whom were captured from Singapore and brought there for the purpose of building a military airfield for the Japanese. Sadly, William ‘Died of Illness’ through dysentery at the Borneo Camp on the 12th of August 1942, aged 31 years.
