Born in 1897 in Singleton, New South Wales, to parents Ruth and Benjamin, Horace Earl Penton was 18 years old and working as a fireman when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 8 June 1915. He embarked from Sydney with the 8th reinforcements to the 13th Battalion aboard HMAT Runic on 9 August 1915. After the evacuation from Gallipoli, he was temporarily transferred to the Brigade Band while the 13th Battalion was in Ismailia. Penton was promotedfirst to corporal and then sergeant, and returned to Australia in May 1919. He died in Victoria in 1963.