Leggatt, William Watt (Lieutenant Colonel, b.1894 - d.1968)

Collection relating to the First World War and Second World War service of VX44907 Lieutenant Colonel William Watt (Bill) Leggatt DSO, MC, 60th Battalion and 59th Battalion 1916-1918, 2/22nd Battalion, 2/40th Battalion and Sparrow Force, 1940-1942, prisoner of war Changi 1942-1945.

Leggatt was a 20-year-old student at the University of Melbourne when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in August 1915. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in July 1916 and posted to the 60th Battalion as a signaling officer. He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for his dedication in maintaining communications while under heavy artillery fire at Villers-Bretonneux in August 1918, and transferred to the 59th Battalion in September. The collection includes a menu card in French for a Christmas dinner held for the officers of the 60th Battalion in 1917. The menu is signed by the officers who attended. The file also includes a first-class train ticket, embarking from Boulogne, for a period of leave Leggatt took in August 1918.

Leggatt returned to Australia and was discharged in 1919. He embarked on a career as a solicitor and, from 1934, was active in the part-time Citizens Military Force. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Leggatt was appointed to the Second Australian Imperial Force as a major and second-in-command of the 2/22nd Battalion, which was sent to Rabaul in New Guinea for garrison duties. The collection includes a letter Leggatt sent to Prime Minister Robert Menzies, an old acquaintance, in July 1941. Leggatt writes to raise the grievances felt by his men towards garrison duties and the resentment they harbour about not being accorded the same privileges as those who were sent on active service in North Africa.

Leggatt assumed command of the 2/40th Battalion on Timor in November 1941. As part of Sparrow Force, Leggatt and his men were forced to surrender amid the Japanese southward advance in February 1942 and became prisoners of war. Leggatt spent the remainder of the war at Changi prison camp in Singapore. The collection includes seven brief postcards Leggatt received from members of his family while he was imprisoned at Changi and one he was able to send to his wife. It also includes three hand drawn Christmas cards received from other officers or men at Changi, including one from 1944 decorated with the drawn colour patches of each unit of Sparrow Force, as well as an officers' mess menu card from May 1944 and an invitation for Leggatt to attend a gathering held by the Dutch commander in August 1944 in honour of the birthday of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. The collection also includes a small diary Leggatt kept during his time in captivity. In it, he writes about daily life, activities, parades, and the movements of his men as they were sent out to labour camps. He also records periods of illness (such as dysentery and ulcers) and the death of others in Changi.