The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1305) Private Garforth Walton, 36th Battalion, AIF, 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on (1305) Private Garforth Walton, 36th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1305 Private Garforth Walton, 36th Battalion, AIF
KIA 12 October 1917
No photograph in collection – Family supplied

Story delivered 9 January 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Garforth Walton, who was killed fighting in Belgium in the First World War.

Garforth Walton was born in 1893, one of five children of Levi and Emma Walton of Burnley, Lancashire, in the north of England. He attended the Fulledge Wesleyan School before immigrating to Australia to join his older brother John near Newcastle in 1913. On the eve of the First World War Walton worked as a fitter and turner at the Sulphide Corporation electrolytic zinc plant at Cockle Creek, on the shores of Lake Macquarie.

In 1916 a highly successful recruiting campaign was run in the Newcastle area by the New South Wales Minister for Public Instruction, Ambrose Carmichael. These recruiting efforts were directed at the state’s rifle clubs, and raised enough volunteers to form the basis of the 36th Battalion at Broadmeadow Camp. Walton enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1916 and joined the group of volunteers colloquially known as “Carmichael’s Thousand”. After a period of training at West Maitland, he sailed with his battalion in May 1916 for the fighting on the Western Front.

Walton spent several months training in England. The 36th Battalion was among the most highly trained battalions in the AIF, and sailed in November for the relatively quiet Houplines sector of France. There the battalion carried out a regimen of active patrolling and trench raiding.

In June 1917 the 36th Battalion played a pivotal role in the fighting at Messines, attacking in the area of Ploegsteert Wood, where two large mines had been detonated beneath the German lines. Over the following weeks the battalion consolidated the ground gained in the Messines attack, and was frequently shelled by German artillery. Around this time Walton was hit by shell fragments and evacuated with wounds to the face. By August he was back with the battalion, which soon moved up the line to take part in the fighting in the Third Battle of Ypres.

Throughout September the Australians made a series of successful attacks that inched the British army toward the village of Passchendaele. During this time heavy rain turned the battlefield, churned by millions of artillery shells, into a thick morass of glutinous mud.

On 12 October 1917 the 36th Battalion formed part of a wider Australian effort to attack and capture the village of Passchendaele. Whereas previous attacks had been supported by copious artillery, the mud that now characterised much of the battlefield made it difficult for the guns to be moved. Many of the shells fired in support of the operation simply plopped into the mud without detonating. This left the infantry exposed to a strong German defence, and heavy tolls were exacted among the Australians. Of the 410 casualties suffered by the 36th Battalion, 113 were killed in action.

Among the dead was Garforth Walton, whose remains were never recovered from the battlefield. Aged 24 at the time of his death, he has no known grave, and is among 6,187 Australians whose names are listed on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Belgium.

Garforth Walton is also commemorated on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with around more than 60 000 others from the First World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

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

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section