William
Joseph Foster was born on 30 July 1918, son of William
Charles and Rose Gertrude Foster. They lived in Glebe
Point, N.S.W., Australia.
Not much is known about him.
William was a salesman when he joined the Australian
Army in Paddington on 6 June 1940.
He joined the
Medical Services and was attached to 5 Australian
General Hospital. With this unit, he was taken prisoner
in Athens, Greece. For a while 5 Australian General
Hospital, together with other Allied medical units, set
up a PoW hospital at Kokkina, Greece. Later, however,
the staff (5 AGH had 6 officers and 160 other ranks at
that time) were sent to PoW camps in Germany.
On 14 April
1945, Pvt Foster was shot dead while trying to escape
from the PoW camp he was held.
After the
liberation. his remains were recovered by the US Graves
Registration and temporarily buried at the US Military
Cemetery at Eisenach, Germany. Later they were moved to
the US Military Cemetery at Margraten, the Netherlands.
In the late 1940's all non American casualties were
moved from Margraten. Those belonging to Commonwealth
nations were moved to Nederweert War Cemetery.
Private
William Foster
is buried in Nederweert War Cemetery in
grave IV. D. 4.
