Walter Thomas CAMERON

Regimental number1328
Place of birthDiamond Creek, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationLabourer
AddressDiamond Creek, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation33
Height5' 10"
Weight166 lbs
Next of kinstep brother, J. Holmes, Diamond Creek, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date27 October 1914
Place of enlistmentLiverpool, New South Wales
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name4th Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/21/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A48 Seang Bee on 11 February 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll4th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularEnlisted 27 October 1814 - 4th Bn 2nd Reinforcements; taken on strength 4th Bn 30 March 1915.
FateKilled in Action 16 August 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Age at death35
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
39
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Embarked Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Gallipoli Campaign), 5 April 1915.

Evacuated to hospital, 24 May 1915.

Admitted to No 1 Field Ambulance, Gallipoli Peninsula, 8 June 1916 (bronchitis); transferred to No 17 General Hospital, Alexandria, 9 June 1915; discharged to duty, 15 June 1915; rejoined 4th Bn, Gallipoli Peninsula, 25 June 1915.

Admitted to Anzac Casualty Clearing Station, Gallipoli Peninsula, 25 June 1915; transferred to No 1 Australian General Hospital, Heliopolis, 10 August 1915; to No 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, 10 August 1915 (influenza); discharged to duty, 18 August 1915.

Admitted to No 1 Australian Dermatological Hospital, Abbassia, 9 March 1916 (syphilis); discharged to duty, 12 April 1916; total period of treatment for venereal disease: 35 days.

Discharged from Quarantine Details, 22 April 1916, and marched into 1st Training Bn, Tel el Kebir, the same day.

Promoted Sergeant, honorary butcher of Bn (without pay), no date stated.

Reverts to the rank of Private at own request, 23 April 1916.

Proceeded overseas to France from Perham Downs, England, 31 July 1916; marched into 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot, Etaples, 1 August 1916.

Proceeded to unit, 9 August 1916; rejoined 4th Bn, in the field, 12 August 1916.

Posted missing in action, 15/17 August 1916.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 14 June 1917, pronounces fate as 'Killed in Action, 16 August 1916'.

Buried between Pozieres and Morquet Farm, probably in Sheet 57D SE R34 C NR4 Sheet 4.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, CAMERON Walter Thomas