Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

01/07/1915

Date of Discharge

11/05/1919

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

28/07/1894

Place of Birth

Smeaton, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Ballarat High School

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Christina Bridgeford (mother), Smeaton, Victoria

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

5 Division AIF

Military Cross (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No.103, 29 June 1917)

Bridgeford entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 9 March 1913 and was probably present at the Canberra naming ceremony three days later as a spectator. He graduated from RMC in June 1915 and was appointed as a Lieutenant with the 29th Battalion Machine Gun Section, arriving in France in June 1916. By then Bridgeford had been promoted to Captain with the 8th Machine Gun Company and led his men during the Battle of Fromelles on 19/20 July 1916. Bridgeford was awarded the Military Cross at Fromelles for his organising skills, arranging for ammunition supplies and for keeping his Company's guns in action. For most of 1917 he trained as a Staff Officer in the 8th Brigade and 5th Division Headquarters and after rejoining his unit (now designated the 5th Machine Gun Battalion) he was gassed near Villers-Bretonneux (in April 1918). When he returned to the front in August 1918 the 5th Division was in action near Péronne and Bridgeford had attained the rank of temporary Major.

He married in November 1922 in Melbourne and was a company commander at RMC during 1925-26. After further training at Quetta in India, Bridgeford became the military liaison officer at the Australian High Commission in London and was there when World War 2 began. He commanded the 25th Infantry Brigade, the 3rd Armoured Division and the 3rd Infantry Division (in Bougainville in 1944-45). In November 1951 he was appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the British Commonwealth forces in Korea and Japan before he retired on 14 March 1953. In May 1953 he was appointed as chief executive officer for the Melbourne Olympic Games and was knighted in 1956. Bridgeford died on 21 September 1971 at Kenmore, Queensland.

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
AWM Honours & Awards
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2458 Army Personnel Files, multiple number series, 36
AWM Collections Record: 070981
Australian Dictionary of Biography online www.adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bridgeford-sir-william-9579/text16879, accessed online 4 June 2014