8th Infantry Battalion
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William Edwin Leslie Clapham (SN 319) born near Castlemaine, was a 21 year old butcher when he enlisted in Ballarat on August 18th 1914. With the 8th Infantry Battalion he embarked from Melbourne aboard the Benalla on October 19th and sailed to Egypt. In May 1915 he was wounded in action at Gallipoli when he sustained a severe gunshot wound to his right hand. He was evacuated to hospital at Malta and while recovering there he was assigned to police duties for a month before being moved to England. Assessed as unfit for further active service he was returned to Australia on the Themistocles and was discharged ‘medically unfit’ on July 24th 1916.
