| Regimental number | 5351 |
| Date of birth | |
| Place of birth | Riverton, South Australia |
| School | Riverton Public School, Riverton, South Australia |
| Religion | Methodist |
| Occupation | Labourer |
| Address | Riverton, South Australia |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 24.6 |
| Height | 5' 5" |
| Weight | 140 lbs |
| Next of kin | Mother, Mrs R Davis, Riverton, South Australia |
| Previous military service | Trained in the Australian Light Horse about 1 year. |
| Enlistment date | |
| Place of enlistment | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 10th Battalion, 17th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/27/4 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A60 Aeneas on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 10th Battalion |
| Recommendations (Medals and Awards) |
Military Medal (Awarded) Devotion to duty and personal courage in carrying out rescue work. (East of Ypres 19-22 September 1917) Recommendation date: |
| Other details from Roll of Honour Circular | "When we received the news of our sons death it cast quite a gloom over our town. He was great favourite and one of Riverton's best footballers. We were frequently receiving letters from the Front congratulating us on having such a brave son, and of his splendid work as a stretcher bearer. He was loved by all his pals." Details from Mother. |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Miscellaneous details (Nominal Roll) | *Stated to be Gilbert Walter Davis on NR |
| Age at death | 26 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 26 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 17), Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
| Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial | 58 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Commemorated in Riverton Cemetery, South Australia. Parents: Henry Archibald (d. 14 October 1948, aged 88; bu. Riverton) and Ruth (d. 7 April 1941, aged 75; bu. Riverton) DAVIS, Riverton, South Australia. Photo: Peter Dennis |
| Medals |
Military Medal Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 31 Date: |
| Other details |
War service: Colombo, Ceylon (on guard for six weeks), Egypt, Western Front (awarded the Military Medal, May 1917, Bullecourt) Medals: Military Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal |
| Miscellaneous details | Second given name incorrectly entered on Embarkation Roll as Walker. |
| Sources | NAA: B2455, DAVIS Gilbert Walter |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
