The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1634) Trooper Claude Elton, 7th Light Horse Regiment, 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 Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (1634) Trooper Claude Elton, 7th Light Horse Regiment, AIF, First World War.

1634 Trooper Claude Elton, 7th Light Horse Regiment, AIF
KIA 29 March 1918
Story delivered 22 November 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Trooper Claude Elton.

Claude Elton was born in 1893 to Charles and Emily Elton of Bombala, New South Wales. Very little is known of his early life, although he probably grew up in or around Bombala, where he had extended family. His father became ill at some point in his childhood, and died in the Callan Park Lunatic Asylum in 1908. Claude became a baker, and was a devout Christian and member of the Church of England.

Claude Elton enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in September 1915. He was posted to the Light Horse, and underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with reinforcements to the 7th Light Horse Regiment in November 1915.

Trooper Elton was sent to Egypt. In April 1916 his regiment, part of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, joined the forces defending the Suez Canal from a Turkish advance across the Sinai Desert. In August 1915 the 7th Light Horse Regiment fought at Romani and Katia, and went on to spend the rest of the year engaged in patrol work in the desert.

In May 1917, Trooper Elton fell ill with dysentery and was sent to hospital in Abbassia. It took him two months to recover, following which he spent some time at a school of instruction in Moascar. In November 1917 he completed his signalling course, and was sent for further training. He rejoined the 7th Light Horse regiment in November 1917, but was regularly detached to divisional headquarters for relay duty.

In March 1918 the 7th Light Horse Regiment was in Jordan, and towards the end of the month attacked its capital, Amman, with the rest of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, and the Camel Corps. Fierce fighting continued for days, but the Turks forced the attacking force to retreat by 30 March. Amman would not be captured until much later in the year.

During the attack on Amman, Trooper Claude Elton was shot through the pelvis. He was carried to a nearby field dressing station where he met the regiment’s chaplain, Nigel Backhouse. Backhouse later reported that Elton was in a considerable amount of pain when he first arrived at the dressing station, but gradually felt better. He said Elton “was wonderfully plucky and brave in his suffering, as he was in the firing line”.

Claude Elton passed away early the following morning, 28 March 1918. He had been conscious almost to the end.

Elton’s mother received a number of sympathy letters from her son’s mates in the 7th Light Horse Regiment. Trooper Haward wrote:
Your beloved son was a particular friend of mine; in fact we have always camped in the same bixey since I got into his troop, and I have always found him to be thoroughly upright and honest, and in every way a Christian and a gentleman … I know it is I hard for you to lose such a creditable son as Claud was, but … he will be much better off than in this dreadful world.

Mrs Dora Swan of the Egypt General Mission, who had become friends with Claude during his training course, wrote that “we grew to be very fond of him, and feel a very personal loss in his death. The more one got to know him the more one appreciated his sterling qualities and fine, staunch character … It must be a great source of comfort to you to realise what an influence for good a pure, upright, Christian life like his must have been in his whole squadron … one feels strong in the hope of meeting him again when the Lord returns.”

Elton was buried nearby by the chaplain about 10 miles west of Amman, but his grave was later lost despite the best efforts of the Imperial War Graves Commission. Today he is commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial. He was 25 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Trooper Claude Elton, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section