William Holmes was one of the foremost Australian citizen soldiers of his time. A Boer War veteran,  Holmes commanded Australia’s first independent military expeditionary force in World War I - the ANMEF.

He and the ANMEF were tasked in 1914, to capture German interests in New Guinea. After a short Campaign he accepted the first German surrender of WW1 for Australia. He was then a commander of the 1st AIF being present at Gallipoli, Pozières, Bullecourt and Messines, where by he earned a reputation for fearlessness in battle, believing that at critical times and even during pauses in engagement, reconnaissance should be conducted by the officers in command making the decisions.

This belief proved to be very dangerous when on the 2 July 1917 near Messines he suffered a fatal artillery shrapnel wound. He was showing the Premier of NSW the vista of the Messines  Battlefield when a range finding shell exploded close by - he suffered the only injury of the group.