Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Clarence Sydney Blanton was born in the small town of Valley Heights, in the Blue Mountains area of NSW on an unknown date in 1895.(1) His father, Sydney George Blanton was an owner of a wholesale clothing company centered in the middle of Sydney on 283-285 Clarence Street but would later move to 119-121-123 York Street.(2) His mother was called Ethel May Blanton. During his pre-teen years, Clarence would attend Warrawee Public School and took an entrance exam on the 1st of December 1910, becoming successful in attaining a technical scholarship to Sydney Technical High School.(3) Coincidently, while the school operated in Ultimo at the time, he lived in Penshurst, approximately only 3 km away from the current site.(4)During his years at Sydney Tech he performed quite well, ranking 11th in his class in 1911 and 9th in 1912. During these years, Blanton also acquired a lot of military experience serving in the cadets and militia for a total of 4 years between 1910 and 1914. Before he enlisted as a 20 year old, Blanton was already working as a warehouseman.(5) While it is unknown where he worked, a possibility is that he worked as a warehouseman in his father’s clothing company.

With 4 years of military experience, Clarence enlisted for the AIF on the 16th May 1915 but did not sign the oath until the 25th of May 1915, becoming a private for the 8th Field Ambulance.(6) Before leaving for Melbourne on the 10th of July 1915, Blanton received what was described as, ‘A very pleasant send off’. The event would have been quite emotional for Clarence, with, ‘The company of about 50 friends and relations, included’. An orchestra was present, with the mayor of Kogarah even attending.(7)

He arrived in Egypt in December of 1915. Training was described as being quite tough and detailed. One example of this was a training session on the 27th of February 1916 at Serapeum. ‘Plenty of training was indulged in, such as physical exercises, stretcher drills, route marches, trench digging, and signaling etc.’(8) On the 16th of June 1916, Clarence departed Egypt with the rest of the 8th Field Ambulance towards Marseille, arriving on the 23rd of June.

With the 8th Field Ambulance, Clarence marched towards Fromelles, hearing the first sounds of enemy planes and artillery on the 9th of July 1916. On the 19th and 20th of July, Clarence was a part of the infamous Battle of Fromelles. In a battle which caused one of the greatest numbers of Australian deaths in a day, over 7,500 Australians would be killed in what was a decisive victory for the Germans. In this battle, the work of Clarence Sydney Blanton and the rest of the field ambulance was simply heroic, Reports say that most of the bearers would work for 36 hours without rest, and hundreds of heroic deeds unfolded.

Despite dreadful conditions in the slaughter that occurred at Fromelles, Clarence managed to be less affected than others, with his courage coming out for all to see.(9)A man with many friends, he managed to keep himself entertained with his mischievous acts. ‘He and his fellow soldier were given a barrel of beer but they dropped it and broke it.’(10) Sometimes, however, his playful character could go to far, a prime example being on the 17th of December, 1916, where Clarence would desert his unit for a couple days resulting in him getting 2 days of pay removed and a reprimand.

In February 1917 he was sent to hospital with tonsilitis and according to his records his admoids. It took him some time to recover nad he and was not sent back to duty until 6th May 1917.

He would see further frontline action again in the attack on Bullecourt on the 9th of May, 1917. This battle would show just how courageous Clarence was. During the battle, an unsuccessful raid from the Australian troops resulted in an officer being shot by a German soldier and left lying in no man’s land. With no hesitation, Clarence and 2 others took themselves into no man’s land to return him to safety. This act of bravery resulted in a commendation from Douglas Haig to George V, the king of the United Kingdom. The following quote from his journal shows just how poorly the battle went for the Australians,‘At Bullecourt in 1917 there were 250 men in his battalion, and after the battle only 95 answered the role call.’

Unfortunately, Clarence would suffer a hemorrhage in the lungs in July 1917 during this battle from the mustard gas used by the Germans.(11) On the 5th of September, Clarence was sent to a hospital in London and embarked back to Australia on the 5th of November, arriving back in January of 1918.(12)

After arriving back in Australia, he would never return to full fitness, and was discharged from the AIF on the 9th of April 1918.(13) After returning to the Blue Mountains area, Clarence would unfortunately succumb to his injuries sustained from the war on the 15th of October 1920 in Leura, at 25 years old.(14) His grave can be found today in the Woronora Memorial Park, in the south of Sydney.(15)

References

(1): Virtual War Memorial Australia
(2): National Archives of Australia
- NAA: B2455, BLANTON C S Page 19
(3): Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Monday 23 January 1911, page 26 (4)Virtual War Memorial Australia
(5)Ibid
(6) National Archives of Australia
- NAA: B2455, BLANTON C S Page 3
(7) St George Call (Kogarah, NSW : 1904 - 1957), Saturday 10 July 1915, page 4
(8) The 8th Australian Field Ambulance on Active Service(L.W Colley-Priest)
(9) Ibid
(10) WWI digger’s diary a great insight(Jim Gainsford) Quote by Ross Blanton
(11) National Archives of Australia
- NAA: B2455, BLANTON C S Page 4
(12)Ibid
(13)National Archives of Australia
- NAA: B2455, BLANTON C S Page 9

(14)Virtual War Memorial Australia
(15) WWI digger’s diary a great insight(Jim Gainsford)

Bibliography
- Ken Stevenson, Research on Google Drive

- https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/167460(Virtual War Memorial)

- https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theleader.com.au%2Fstory%2F2235750 %2Fwwi-diggers-diary-a-great-insight%2F&psig=AOvVaw0-IoXObRIlxjs0hvyHtVEZ&ust=17224730239 29000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBQQjhxqFwoTCNCr-JeG0IcDFQAAAAAdAAA AABAE(St George and Sutherland Shire Leader)

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=3 091328&isAv=N( National Archives of Australia)

-https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-37956543/view?partId=nla.obj-37956758#page/n2/mode/1up( The 8th Australian Field Ambulance on Active Service, L.W Colley-Priest)