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Walter George Davis - Information

At the age of 30, Walter enlisted in the AIF in Liverpool on the 19th of February 1915. He was born in Braidwood, and later found work as a labourer while residing in Camden. He was made a Driver with the 5th Infantry Brigade Train, 15th Army Service Company. He was then shipped out on the 2nd of June 1915, embarking Sydney on the HMAT Medic.

Walter worked with his unit in Egypt, supporting the Gallipoli Campaign. When the Infantry Battalions were moved to the Western Front in March 1916, Walter followed. For a few months, he and his unit worked tirelessly transporting war material. However, fighting at Fromelles and on the Somme was draining manpower. Walter was then transferred to the 19th Infantry Battalion on the 8th of September. Later that year, the 19th Battalion endured the devastation of the Battle of Flers on the 14th of November. Here, the men attacked the Germans across the Somme Sector, which previous bombardments and heavy rainfall turned into an unimaginable bog. Men became stuck in the mud, becoming prime targets for machine gunners. After that terrible ordeal, Walter’s health declined. From December until February 1917, he was in and out of hospital. He returned to his unit in late April, only to be wounded a few days later. On the 3rd of May, during the Second Battle of Bullecourt, he was hit in the right shoulder. He was admitted to the 9th General Hospital in Rouen, and taken to England to the 1st Southern General Hospital a week later. By July, Walter was recuperating at the 1st Auxiliary Hospital. His return to the front was delayed by him going AWL and illness, admitted for myalgia in July 1918. He was then transferred to the 3rd Battalion on the 19th of October. After the war ended, he was taken back to France, joining the 3rd Battalion in early December. He commenced his journey home, boarding the Kildonian Castle on the 21st of March 1919.