The tragic story of Australia’s ‘forgotten soldier’ and one man’s battle to get him recognised

Discarded wartime service medals found on a street led to the discovery of a WWI soldier’s unmarked grave, lost and forgotten for nearly a century. 

The remarkable piecing together of William McEwan’s tragic story has also sparked the fight to give him and hundreds of other forgotten Aussie war heroes the official posthumous recognition their sacrifice deserves. 

‘Our William was an ordinary bloke from an ordinary family who went and “did his bit” like so many Aussies but sadly came back physically and mentally broken,’ Melbourne military history enthusiast Peter Zabrdac told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘It is disgusting that his grave was never properly marked and that he was forgotten for 99 years. I am determined to get him the military headstone memorial he is entitled to.’

Mr Zabrdac’s father found William’s discarded medals in a Fitzroy street in inner-city Melbourne in the early 1970s.

Although they fascinated Mr Zabrdac, who was in primary school at the time, he forgot about them until earlier this year when he found the military honours among his father’s belongings.

Now 59 and a semi-retired company director, Mr Zabrdac did some research that led him to get William’s full 79-page “beautifully handwritten” army file from the National Archives in Canberra.

‘The more I read his file the more human he became,’ Mr Zabrdac said. 

William McEwan was so badly injured in the 1916 WWI battle for the French town of Pozieres the army wrote to his mother saying he was unlikely to survive

William was only 5’3 (163cm) tall, which originally stopped him enlisting for Gallipoli.

Following that disastrous campaign and other fighting the Australian army was forced to drop height minimums to replenish its numbers, meaning William could enlist and he was sent to fight in France. 

During the hellish 1916 four-month battle for the French village of Pozieres where the Germans unleashed their full arsenal, including phosphorus shells and poison gas, William joined the 23,000 Australian casualties, with 6800 killed or fatally wounded.

William was shot through both lungs and arms as well as receiving shrapnel wounds to his back. 

‘He was not expected to live and his poor mum was notified accordingly by the army, Mr Zabrdac said.

‘How he lived only God knows.’ 

William was evacuated to England, where he underwent 18 months recuperation before being discharged in 1917 as unfit for further service.

Returning to live in Melbourne, William married but dramatically and publicly took his own life in 1923.

A death notice from now defunct Melbourne newspaper The Argus stated William walked into a pub in Brunswick, near Fitzroy where he lived, and told the barman to serve ‘a pint of poison’ and lend him a ‘bob’ (12 pence in pre-decimal currency). 

One of William’s medals found apparently discarded in a Fitzroy street in he early 1970s 

When this ‘unusual request’ was refused, William instead ordered a beer, which he drank but then walked out onto the street and ‘drank some poison and staggered into the hotel yard, where he died’. 

‘He had suffered from chest complaints since he returned from the war,’ The Argus reported. 

Mr Zabrdac said that with the help of Faith Jones from the Virtual War Memorial group and Lois Comeadow from the Brighton Cematorians, he was able to track down not only a living relative of William and also the war hero’s grave.

However, Mr Zabrdac was shocked and dismayed to William lying anonymously in an unmarked in Brighton Cemetery, located in the south east Melbourne suburb of Caulfield South. 

‘Our William was an ordinary bloke from an ordinary family who went and “did his bit” like so many Aussies but sadly came back physically and mentally broken,’ Mr Zabrdac said. 

‘It is disgusting that his grave was never properly marked and that he was forgotten for 99 years and I am determined to get him the military headstone memorial he is entitled to. 

The extraordinary 1923 death notice for William contained in his army file from now defunct Melbourne newspaper The Argus

Mr Zabrdac has been informed that the Department of Veteran Affairs will only designate William as eligible for a war grave and provide a ceremonially engraved headstone, valued at around $7,000, if it can be proven that he died from battlefield injuries. 

‘So far all we have is the statement from his landlady the police took where she stated he “suffered terribly from breathing problems”,’ Mr Zabrdac said as he prepared a submission.  

Mr Zabrdac pointed out that families of US veterans are always given a dedicated place to honor their deceased loved ones. 

‘The Americans have Arlington Military Cemetery (in Washington) for their returned service people, yet we do nothing in Australia and it’s shameful,’ he said. 

‘There are many other Diggers all over Australia in similar situations, forgotten and lying in unmarked graves.’ 

Peter Zabrdac (pictured left) attends a flag ceremony at William’s grave with Victoria RSL State Committee member Ange Kenos

Mr Zabrdac attended a flag ceremony held at William’s grave last Friday, which also involved ADF members and Victorian RSL representatives.

He said the heartfelt ceremony was just the beginning of the effort to honor William, with everyone in attendance vowing not to rest until they secure a headstone or memorial plaque for this previously unrecognized soldier. 

Mr Zabrdac also intends to give William’s medals to the only surviving relative he managed to track down, Wendy Newman who lives in Queensland.

Between 1997 and 2021, there were 1677 confirmed suicides by serving and ex-serving ADF members, which amounts to 20 times the number killed in armed conflict over the period.

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has been contacted for comment.