Forgotten Heroes - Lieutenant Colonel William Waite, DSO. MC.

Lieutenant Colonel William Charles Waite DSO, MC.

Born in 1880, Waite was educated at St Bartholomew's Church of England School, Norwood, and Prince Alfred College, Adelaide before joining the South Australian Garrison Artillery (militia) in 1897. 

With the outbreak of the South African War, Waite embarked for active service in November 1899 as a corporal with the 1st South Australian Contingent. After twelve months of campaigning he returned home and re-enlisted with the 6th (Imperial Bushmen) South Australian Contingent in 1901 as a lieutenant. The unit operated in Transvaal, Cape Colony and the Orange River Colony, and Waite was mentioned in despatches.

Following the war, he kept up his military associations as a second lieutenant and then a lieutenant in the field artillery. Waite joined the Australian Imperial Force as a lieutenant on 20 August 1914 and was posted to the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade; shortly before embarkation he was promoted captain and transferred to the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade Ammunition Column. His unit landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and Waite served there until the evacuation in December, first commanding the 7th Field Artillery Battery and then the 8th.

For his Gallipoli service he was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in dispatches.

After a brief time in staff appointments in Egypt, Waite was transferred in March 1916 to the newly formed 4th Division, AIF, as lieutenant-colonel commanding the 24th Field Artillery Brigade. In June he embarked for France and the brigade went into action at Bois Grenier and Fromelles, and at Ypres, Belgium.

Waite took command of the 11th Field Artillery Brigade from January 1917. He served as an artillery brigade and group commander in operations on the Somme, at Bullecourt, Ypres, Messines, Dernancourt and Villers-Bretonneux, received the Distinguished Service Order, particularly for his work at Fromelles, Ypres and the Somme, and was again mentioned in dispatches.

In August 1918 he was invalided home to Adelaide. He retained his commission in the militia and in 1926-30 commanded the 10th Battalion (Adelaide Rifles).

In the Second World War he resumed full-time military duties, initially as camp commandant at Wayville and Woodside, and later as deputy director of recruiting at Keswick Barracks, Adelaide. At 90 he presided over the last memorial meeting of Boer War veterans. He was especially well known as chief marshal on Anzac Days in Adelaide; mounted on a dapple-grey charger, he led the parade on twenty-nine occasions.