To commemorate 100 years since the Armistice, we would like to introduce you to 100 members of Caulfield RSL over the next 100 days
William Edgar Major
Not all men that enlisted in WW1 were posted as foot soldiers.
Bill Major enlisted as a Rail Fireman, an occupation that included shovelling coal into the boiler of a steam engine and making sure there was a sufficient head of steam to keep the train going at the required speed.
Bill enlisted in the 5 Australian Broad-Gauge operating Company in late 1917 and joined the unit in Belgium. The trains carried essential men, munitions and supplies from the ports towards the front. As steam trains their smoke and steam made them obvious targets for planes and Artillery. A number of men were killed both as a result of aerial attacks and derailments from bombs and artillery.
At the completion of the war the men stayed on, running trains until Belgium could take over their own network again. Then, in Bill’s case, he was transferred to the Graves Unit which had the unenviable job of recovering bodies from the battle fields and the many temporary cemeteries around, for reinterment in the War Graves we have today.
Finally, he returned to Australia and joined the Victorian railways in 1920, again working as a Fireman.
According to club records his last address was Nyora still working for Vic. Rail as a train driver in Country Victoria.
He died in 1963.
Lest we forget