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Sgt. William Williams
British Army 19th Btn. Tank Corps
from:London
From the age of 12, William Williams went down the mines, leading the pit ponies. Trained as a Male Nurse then enlisted in Royal Welsh Fusilliers. Selected to join the Heavy Machine Gun section which became the Tank Corps ; as mechanic/driver/gunner. Later became Sgt. 5/11/18 and Tank commander. Returned to nursing at The Priory with many famous patients 'Grandad Bill' wrote his memoirs which included a significant amount of detail of his time in the Tank Corps. This is his account of being signed up and trained:
The army at this time were stopping men at the railway stations and asking for their papers. I had none so thought I would take a chance and wrote for some. The result was, I got my calling up papers to join the army. I reported and was asked if there was a regiment I would like to join. I said the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, there was a London battalion, so I joined that in 1916. I was sent to Kinnock Park, Rhyl. I found some old school pals in other battalions there. I got through my recruits drill after two months. Then one day coming off parade I got the call, '24477 Williams report to the company office'. I reported and was given a pass for four days. Still in the dark of what it was about, on reporting back I was sent with 10 others to be transferred to the Machine Gun Corp (Heavy Section) at Wool in Dorset. The train was full of men going to the same place. When we arrived we were put in huts for the night, all wondering what it was, there were men from every regiment in the British Army there. We found out that it was for what was to be known later as the Tank Corps.
After a success on the Somme with a few tanks it had been decided to raise four battalions and we were the lot. It was a little while before things were settled down, as there was only one doctor there. No medical examinations were given, instead we were taken to what was an old crater on a hillside, and seven men at a time were put on it to run round, up and down. That was the test, if they pulled a man out he was sent back. I got through it so that was my corp for the rest of the war. I met some very nice men there and formed a friendship with Cliff Baldwin, a Yorkshire lad. We were pals for the whole time.
We were soon put into a new kind of training with machine guns, six pounder guns for the gunners, and driving and maintenance tests for drivers, also signalling, Morse code and pigeon training. So we were kept busy. We were put into crews of seven men and one officer. It was all interesting. I was first gunner and Cliff was the first driver. The gunners were sent to Whale Island, Portsmouth for a course with the Navy, as the Army had not any schools to try us, we would be firing from a moving tank at a moving object.
