The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4484) Corporal Walter Anderson, 8th Field Company Australian Engineers, Australian Imperial Force, First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial every day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Ryan Wilson, the story for this day was on (4484) Corporal Walter Anderson, 8th Field Company Australian Engineers, Australian Imperial Force, First World War.

4484 Corporal Walter Anderson, 8th Field Company Engineers
DOD 5 October 1918
Photograph P07569.001

Story delivered 5 August 2013

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Walter Anderson, of the 8th Field Company Australian Engineers, Australian Imperial Force.

Anderson was born in Rozelle, Sydney, on the 29th of November, 1888, to Rose and William Anderson. He was one of six children.

He trained as a carpenter and travelled New South Wales for work. His last job was building a cottage at Sutton Forest for his married sister Stella. He enlisted in the AIF on the 13th of February 1915.

He was posted to the 22nd Battalion and embarked for Egypt in May 1915. In the first week of September, Anderson and his battalion were deployed to the Gallipoli peninsula. However, the major offensives were over at this stage, and the 22nd Battalion played a largely defensive role.

After the evacuation from Gallipoli, and as a part of the general reorganisation of the AIF in Egypt, Anderson was transferred to the 8th Field Company Engineers to make the most of his skills as a carpenter.

In June 1916 his company left Egypt for France. On the battlefields of the Western Front, the men were employed in the front lines to construct and repair trenches and strong posts. They also formed carrying and working parties and helped infantry battalions prepare for active operations. Engineers could be used to build almost anything used at the front: duckboards, temporary bridges, tunnels, trenches, observation posts, roads, railways, communication lines, and even showers and bathing facilities.

Walter proved to be an able member of the company and was promoted to Corporal in October 1917 while serving in the Ypres sector. On the 13th of May 1918, he was gassed and invalided to England. There he met and fell in love with Ruth, an English nursing sister, and they became engaged. But his health was badly damaged.

Although he returned to army camp in England, within months he was admitted to Fovant Military Hospital with pneumonia. When he died on 5 October 1918, Ruth was with him. It was only five weeks before the Armistice.

Walter was buried in Barford St. Martin's Cemetery in Wiltshire with full military honours. His fiancée, Ruth, kept up a correspondence with Walter's sister Hilda for many years. Neither forgot Walter; even though Hilda lived another fifty years, not a week went by when she did not think of him.

Corporal Walter Anderson's name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with approximately 60,000 others from the First World War, and his photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is one of many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Corporal Walter Anderson, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.