William Edward Riley took good care to cover his true name when he enlisted at Richmond, Victoria, on 17 August, 1915. His gave his name as Edwin Hayes, and claimed to be 19 years and two months old when he enlisted at the Drill Hall, Gipps St, Richmond. His true age was 17, but he would have had to get permission from his parents to enlist and, given that they were separated and at odds with each other, he must have wanted to disguise his true origins. His address was probably also false, 1089 Hoddle St., East Melbourne. He gave as his next of kin his mother, Clara Hayes, living at 80 Glebe Rd., Sydney. In fact, she called herself Mrs. Clara Carrick and was living at 91 Simpson St., East Melbourne, probably his real address. He also claimed to be born in Sydney, but this was also false: he was born in Whittlesea, Victoria. 

There is nothing in his army record to chart his personal experience in the war. All it says was that he was  serving with the 6th Battalion AIF, killed in action at Gallipoli and remembered on the Memorial at Cape Helles. The 6th Battalion had been raised in Victoria within a fortnight of the declaration of war and with the 5th, 7th and 8th Battalions, formed the 2nd Brigade of the AIF. The 6th Battalion was raised entirely in Victoria and embarked on the troop transport Suffolk, stopping at Albany, West Australia to join the rest of the fleet. They arrived in Egypt on 2 December 1914. A period of training followed then, on 25 April 1915, they took part in the landing at Anzac Cove. Edwin Hayes/ William Edward Riley, survived the ANZAC landing and ten days later, with the rest of the 2nd Brigade, the 6th Battalion was transferred to Cape Helles to help in the attack on the village of Krithia. The action cost the battalion one-third of its strength. William Riley was one of the dead. 

Rough as Bags, the story of the 6th Battalion has this to say about the action:

Although the boys made a brave advance the ground was flat without feature which offered no protection. Sergeant Neville Rollason of the 6th Bne wrote of the attack, “We attacked the enemy, advancing under a terrible fire from rifles, machine guns and shrapnel for a distance of 800 yards. When I say ‘we’ I mean the others for I only got 600 yards when I got in the way of a machine gun.” The Battalion suffered heavy casualties within an hour 133 members lay dead. 

Riley's mother was traced and the story came out of her marriage and Edward's life. His father, William Riley was an engine driver, with an address C% Railway Construction Company, Orbost, Victoria. On 6 October, 1915, he wrote to the Department of Defence saying that he had seen in the paper that his son had been killed in action and asked 'Now, if the above is correct, can you inform me who if any person has been receiving his pay?' The paymaster wrote back to say his son's deferred pay had been given to the person named as next of kin, his mother.

In a further dispute in 1920, William Riley claimed that his former wife, Clara Riley had no right to the surname she was using,  Carrick, and asked that his son's war medals be forwarded to him as 'his mother was not a fit person to receive same'. Mrs Carrick and her daughter Marian both wrote to Base Records to explain the situation. The report back to Base Records  at Victoria Barracks said 'Both of the ladies state that none of the children have been supported by the father for the last ten years, except when he took them for a short period from the convent where they were being educated without the mother's consent'. 

Mrs Carrick's letter explained that she was the wife of William Riley, but they had been separated for many years, due to his heavy drinking. The children had lived and been supported by her but 'my Husband took him away from school unknown to me ... and placed him in the Geelong orphanage where he took ill.' Only after this happened was young Edward William Riley returned to her. Her daughter Marian wrote of her father that, in regard to her mother,  'he has treated her shamefully as long as I can remember ... I consider my mother a much better parent.'  She also stated that her mother had notified her husband of his son's decision to join the army, but  he didn't reply and forbade Marian from communicating with her brother.

Both parents wanted the medals won by Private Riley. Major Lean of Base Records  recorded that 'after careful consideration, it has been decided to allot the war medals etc. as below': Clara Carrick was given the 1914-1915 Star, the Victory Medal and the Memorial Plaque; William Riley received the British War Medal with clasps and the Memorial Scroll.