Walter, George

No.2057 – Private George Walter – 16^th Battalion AIF

George Walter was born in Fremantle WA in 1896 to William and Jane Walter. He was one of several siblings with William (born 1886); Jane (1891); Arthur (1893); Thomas (1898); Alice (1900) and Rose (1902). The family lived in Bayly Street North Fremantle. George was educated at North Fremantle State School and after leaving he took up work as a labourer. On the 12^th February 1915 George and his elder brother Arthur went to the Francis Street Drill Hall in Perth to enlist in the AIF.

Both were accepted as fit for service with the medical examiner finding George to be 5 feet 10 inches tall; weight of 134lbs; chest measurement of 34-37 inches; sallow complexion; brown eyes and black hair. His religious denomination was Church of England. They were both sent to Blackboy Hill Camp and were assigned to No.8 Depot Company but after a few days were transferred to form a part of the 5^th Reinforcements to the 16^th Battalion. Arthur was given the regimental no.2056 and George 2057. They trained in WA for the next two months as they waited for their embarkation orders to arrive.

These orders finally came through and on the 26^th April 1915 George and Arthur boarded the HMAT Hororata in Fremantle Harbour and set sail for Egypt. The sea journey took just over three weeks and they arrived in Egypt in mid May. They were then disembarked and sent into the 4^th Training Battalion. Arthur and George would spend the next seven to eight weeks in Egypt before receiving their orders to proceed to Gallipoli. They were taken on strength of the 16^th Battalion at Anzac on the 28^th July 1915.

Eleven days after arriving at Anzac the boys were involved in the August offensive when the 16^th Battalion was part of the 4^th Brigade advance which tried to reach Hill 971 but got tangled up in the northern foothills. Though more ground was captured all of the area was still under Turkish observation from the heights which had not been captured. The 16^th had very heavy casualties but both Arthur and George came through this advance unscathed. They continued to remain in the northern sector for the rest of August and towards the end of the month they were involved in the operations against Hill 60.

George’s involvement at Hill 60 was cut short when on the 28^th August he was evacuated sick to the 4^th Field Ambulance with enteritis. The following day on the 29^th Arthur was hit by Turkish fire in the chest and he was evacuated to hospital in Malta and then England. It is unknown if George was able to see his brother before Arthur was evacuated. George himself returned from the Field Ambulance to the 16^th Battalion on the 11^th September 1915. The 16^th Battalion would remain located in the northern sector of the battlefield for the next few months.

On the 14^th November 1915 George was evacuated with a bayonet wound to his left thigh and he was evacuated to the 4^th Field Ambulance and after initial treatment he was sent to the 16^th Casualty Clearing Station. On the 16^th November he was transferred to a hospital ship and sent to Mudros but only had a few days there before being transferred to Egypt. On the 21^st November George was admitted to Bombay Presidency Hospital in Alexandria and remained there till the 13^th December when he was transferred to No.2 Australian General Hospital. By the end of December George had recovered and he was sent to the AIF Base Depot Camp to await the 16^th Battalion’s return from Gallipoli.

It seems George may have been detached to the 4^th Training Battalion during the first few months of 1916 as he did not rejoin the 16^th Battalion until the 9^th March 1916. He would spend the next few months training in Egypt as they waited for their embarkation orders to arrive. Arthur meanwhile had been recovering from his chest wounds in hospital in England. He was gradually improving but his war was over as he was declared unfit for further active service. On the 8^th May 1916 Arthur boarded a hospital ship in England which returned him to Western Australia. He was eventually discharged from the AIF in Fremantle on the 7^th September 1916.

George finally left Egypt with the 16^th Battalion in the 1^st June 1916 aboard the HMT Canada. They arrived in Marseilles France on the 9^th June 1916. Once the battalion reached France, for an unstated reason, George was detached for duty with the Base Depots in Etaples. He spent a few days with the 1^st Australian Division Base Depot and then on the 17^th June he was transferred to the 4th Australian Division Base Depot. George would remain in Etaples for the next two months and only rejoined the 16^th Battalion on the 19^th August 1916.

The 16^th Battalion were then having a rest from their initial work at Pozieres and Mouquet farm but they were soon to return to the front and on the 29^th August they took part in an assault on Mouquet Farm. Though the attack was initially successful the Germans soon overwhelmed the Australians due to their having interconnected tunnels running underneath the farm. On the 30^th August the Australians withdrew from the German positions at the Farm but George was officially reported as missing on the 31^st August. No news ever came through of him being taken prisoner so a later court of enquiry conducted by the 16^th Battalion declared that George was killed in action at Mouquet farm. There was a pencilled mark in his service records to state that George had been buried but after the war no grave was discovered and thus George is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.

There was still one of the Walter’s still serving in the AIF. William Henry Walter enlisted in April 1916 and was eventually assigned to the 16^th Reinforcements to the 27^th battalion. He left Fremantle aboard the HMAT Port Melbourne on the 30^th October 1916, arriving in England at the end of the year. William spent several months in the 7^th Training Battalion at Rollestone Camp on the Salisbury Plains but eventually arrived in France in June 1917 and was taken on strength of the 27^th Battalion. He was then transferred on the same day to the 28^th Battalion.

William survived the actions at the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium but was badly wounded the following year. On the 1^st June 1918 William was in the Morlancourt sector when a German plane bombed the 28^th Battalion who were then marching to reserve positions. Many men were either killed or wounded by this aerial bombing and William was one of those severely hit. He was evacuated to Hospital and eventually reached England and spent several months in treatment. His war was now over and on the 2^nd January 1919 William boarded a troopship in England and set sail for Western Australia, reaching Fremantle on the 10^th February 1919. William was discharged from the AIF in Fremantle on the 30^th April 1919. He rejoined his wife Ethel and their three children and resumed his pre war occupation as a plumber in North Fremantle.

This postcards and ephemera from Judith Cunnington and her sister Bernadette Cross, great granddaughters of William Henry Walter. They would like to thank their great aunt Lyn McGowan, great aunt Shirley Simpson and her husband Harry, and mother Veronica Cross for providing Walter family history and ephemera that were used in the writing of George Walter’s story.