Victor Hugo Pike

Service No 2654

Private

5th Pioneer Battalion, 5^th Reinforcement

Born 4 October 1891 at Tungkillo, SA

Son of William & Mary PIKE nee SCOTT, of Jackson St, Magill, SA.

Age 24 years

Occupation prior to enlistment Teamster

Religion Methodist

Enlisted 6 July 1916 at Adelaide, SA. The Unit embarked from Adelaide, SA on board HMAT A73 Commonwealth on 21 September 1916.

Served in France. Wounded left thigh; to England.

Drowned at Sea on 3 August 1918, as result of enemy action torpedoing & sinking of hospital ship HMAT Warilda

Commemorated Hollybrook Memorial, Southhampton, UK

Pictured on the Mount Pleasant Soldiers Memorial Hall Honor Board, and the Tungkillo Memorial.

Australian Hospital/Troopship Warilda. Requisitioned in 1915 as a troop/cargo ship, it was taken over by the Admiralty in June 1916 and converted to a hospital ship manned by an Australian crew. Originally operating brightly lighted and painted, the ship was camouflaged early in 1917, as in this photograph, after Germany stated all vessels operating in the English Channel would be attacked. In May 1917 the Australian crew, apart from officers and engineers, returned home and a British crew signed on. On 3 August 1918 Warilda, loaded with hospital patients and other personnel, was sunk off Le Havre by a German Navy submarine with the loss of 125 lives.

For more on the story of the HMAT Warilda check here