Lifetime of service earned full honours
William John Stanfield was a military man through and through.
His granddaughter Margot Manning, of Yokine, said he was known as James - or more affectionately as Jim.
Stanfield arrived in WA from Britain with his wife Florence and their two young daughters in 1911. They had been sponsored by two of Florence's cousins, who lived in Guildford, where the new arrivals settled.
Stanfield was 33 and a veteran of the Boer War, having served with the 5th Royal Irish Lancers for a decade, half of it overseas.
When World War I broke out he was among the first to put up his hand to serve again.
He signed up on August 17, the day Blackboy Hill training camp at Greenmount opened, and just 12 days after Australian prime minister Joseph Cook announced war with Germany.
Stanfield was assigned to the 11th Battalion, sailed from Fremantle on October 31 aboard the Ascanius and disembarked for further training in Egypt, where hundreds of men from the battalion gathered on January 10, 1915, on Cheops Pyramid.
_The West Australian _ is supporting a WA Genealogical Society project to name the 703 men in the famous image. WAGS has divided a digital copy of the photo into grids, so each man is numbered.
It is believed Stanfield is number 530 on the grid.
The 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th battalions formed the 3rd Brigade, the covering force for the Anzac landing at Gallipoli on April 25, and the 11th was first ashore about 4.30am.
After its evacuation from the peninsula in December, the battalion fought on the Western Front in France and Belgium.
Stanfield was transferred to the 1st Pioneer Battalion and promoted to warrant officer class 1 and finally sailed for home in March 1918.
Mrs Manning said his certificate of discharge from the Australian Imperial Force noted his conduct and character as exemplary and among his special qualifications it was noted he was "very useful with horses".
Soon after, he rejoined the military in the Australian Instructional Corps, formed in 1921.
In 1935 Stanfield was awarded a long service and good conduct medal, which recognised officers with a record of 18 years service with "irreproachable character".
He died in March 1941 aged 64 and was buried with full military honours.
