William Moffat McLachlan was born in Ballarat and was a Miner by trade when he enlisted in the Mining Corps Reinforcements 1 – 3 on 24 November 1915 at the age of 42. His unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 4 April 1916 and in September he was transferred to the 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company on the Western Front. He served through the war reaching the rank of Sergeant, and his gallantry in October 1918 earned for him the Belgian Croix de Guerre, awarded by the King of Belgium. æSgt. McLachlan was in charge of a party of men detailed to clear a road for traffic through Estrees. Although under heavy shell and machine gun fire he set a splendid example of coolness and resource, and not only completed the task successfully, but also, by his skilful control, considerably reduced the number of casualties.' He returned to Australia aboard the Ulysses disembarking at Melbourne in March 1919.
Tree No. 1021