William Hitchcock

whitchcockOn ANZAC Day, when Australians and New Zealanders remember their dead of wars recent and long past, scarcely a family is not touched in some way. This is my grandfather, Corporal William Hitchcock, who was a motorcycle despatch rider in a platoon attached to the headquarters of General Sir John Monash, the Australian commander on the Western Front of the first World War. Enrolled as 10621 Corporal William Hitchcock, 3 Divisional Signal Company, he embarked on HMAT Ascanius, ship no. A11, from Melbourne on 25/05/1916. Bill was spared the horrors of the trenches, but was often a target for enemy snipers. My grandfather returned home and had a long life. Too many did not.