The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (270) Corporal Walter Snadden, 24 Battalion, First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each 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 Andrew Smith, the story for this day was on (270) Corporal Walter Snadden, 24 Battalion, First World War.

270 Corporal Walter Snadden, 24th Battalion
DOW 8 March 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 12 January 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Walter Snadden.

Walter Snadden was born in 1880, the eldest son of James and Agnes Snadden and a member of one of Footscray's oldest families. He was a machine engineer at Eldridge's Standard Quarries before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1915.

At this stage of the war, the standards for enlistment in the AIF were for men aged between 18 and 34 years old. Perhaps because, at 34, he was at the upper limit, Walter Snadden gave his age as 24 on his enlistment papers. He was posted to the 24th Battalion and, after a period of training in Australia, was sent to Egypt.

Snadden indicated to those at home that his service on Gallipoli was more exciting than it had been - including stories of having been wounded in the arm and nearly buried alive at Lone Pine. In fact, the 24th Battalion did not arrive on the Gallipoli peninsula until the evening of 6 September 1915, a month after the last major offensives were conducted there. They went on to have a relatively quiet time there, and Private Snadden acquitted himself well, serving some time as a temporary corporal.

In December 1915 he was evacuated with malaria, which he reported as being "so bad that he had to be straight jacketed". He was in hospital some months, but was released in time to accompany the 24th Battalion to France, where it had been sent to fight on the Western Front. His health continued to suffer there, suffering from influenza and a recurrence of malaria, but when with the battalion he again proved to be a reliable soldier, and was permanently promoted to corporal.

In February 1917, during one of the harshest winters France had experienced for some time, the 24th Battalion was being rotated in and out of the line around the Butte de Warlancourt, north of Pozières. Corporal Snadden was one of seven men wounded as the battalion took up a line of outposts and sent a party on patrol. He was shot through the thigh, and sent to hospital in the city of Rouen. After a week his condition deteriorated and he was reported as "dangerously ill". Three days later he died of his wounds.

Walter Snadden was survived by his two brothers: James, who served in the Australian Army Service Corps, and Harold, who went to Egypt with the Light Horse. He was buried in the St Sever Cemetery extension in Rouen, aged 36.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. There is no photograph in the collection to display beside the Pool of Reflection.

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