SINGLETON, Percy William

Percy William Singleton was the son of James and Lucy (nee Buxton) Singleton of Coalville, Victoria. In 1914, he was workign as a 'letter carrier' at Sandringham, Victoria, but by 1917, he was an assistant telegraphist with the PMG Telegraph Branch, which necessitated getting a letter of release from his employer. He enlisted on 16 February, 1916, but the letter of release was not submitted to the army authorities until 18 October and on 19 October, he finally signed his service papers. He was then 24 years old.

His previous experience was the catalyst for his war service. He was immediately sent to Moore Park in Sydney to attend the Signals School (Wireless), arriving on 21 November, 1916 and then on to the Australian Flying Corps Camp at Laverton Victoria on 16 February, 1917. In April he as amde Acting Lance Corporal and a month later, was attached to the 9th Reinforcements, Australian Flying Corps, in Liverpol NSW.

His unit  left for England on board HMAT Marathon A74 on 10 May, 1917, and after a brief stop at Fremantle, WA, left Australia, arriving at Devonport, UK, on 20 July. On 21 July, they marched in to No.1 and 3 Camp Halton Park, Wendover, but Percy Singleton was moved on after a week to the AFC Training Depot at Farnborough and from there on  22 August, to the school of Wireless Operation at Farnborough. 

From there, he was sent to France, leaving from Folkestone and marching in to the No. 1 Aircraft Depot. However, on 18 October, he was detached from the AFC and sent to join the 2nd Division Artillery at Broodseinde. At this stage, they were severely depleted. On 29 October, they had 2,174 casualties from the Division, with another 2,253 at Poelcappelle. Percy Singleton's skills as a wireless operator must have been in demand. It may have been here that he experienced a gas attack, something which affected his health and led to his eventual discharge. However, he was never sent to hospital, although he was sent on leave to Paris for a week in early March, 1918 and on 22 March joined the 2nd Division Headquarters.

From here, it's difficult to trace his movements: on 18 April, 1918, he was back with the Australia Flying Corps, attached to the 69th Squadron then at Savy, near Arras. In November, 1918, with the war over, he was detached again to the 2nd Australian Division headquarters from the 1st Australian Aircraft Depot.

On 4 April, 1919, he was still in the armed forces, but given three month' leave with pay and subsistence to attend the PMG London for educational purposes. He was returned to Australia on 22 August 1919 on board HM Anchises. 

He was finally discharged form further service at Melbourne in on 25 December, 1919, declared medically unfit 'suffering from the effects of gas poisoning'. He died in Sydney in 1990 after a long and active life, spent as a postal assistant, a clerk, an excise officer and finally a farmer at Port Fairy.