William Henry Powell

On 25 August 1917, the Newcastle Morning Herald reported, “Dudley, that small but keen, soccer district has sent 20 players to the front”. William Powell was one of them. Before proceeding to the front Powell spent a lengthy amount in a London hospital with VD. He had numerous run ins with military authorities (5 times for being absent without leave and once for allowing a prisoner to escape). In May 1918 he was gassed at Morlancourt in France for which he spent 8 weeks in hospital recovering. Soon after he spent another 34 days in hospital in France with another bout of VD. Private Powell was discharged from the AIF as being medically unfit after his return to Australia on 1 November 1919. He died in 1936, aged 51.