Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Leslie served with the Royal Australian Navy in 1913 and then joined the 8th Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders in the British Army and was killed in action in France.

Leslie A. Vipont, who was killed under the name of Grierson, was a native of the Mernda district, and an old scholar of State School 468. His mother is a sister of Mr George  Cockerell, Mrs Hicks, and Mrs Smith, all of Mernda. Mrs. Vipont has two other sons in the army.

Leslie enlisted with the Royal Australian Navy (R.A.N.) on 10 June 1913 for a period of 7 years. He served as a Stoker II, on HMAS Cerebus, HMAS Encounter and HMAS Australia. When war broke out he was on training duties on HMAS Australia off the coast of Thursday Island, Queensland. Then returning to Sydney in preparation to be fitted out for active service. During sea training duties in the North Sea, off the coast of Scotland, Leslie had the misfortune to break his leg. He was sent to Chatham Naval Hospital in Kent, and later Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh, Scotland, as a convalescent. Leslie saw the Seaforth Highlanders, the regiment which his great grandfather, Sgt. Grierson had served with there at that time. Instead of returning to HMAS Australia Leslie joined the Seaforth Highlanders and took the name of Leslie Grierson. He joined the British Army, in the 15th (Scottish) Division. The 8th Battalion, the Seaforth Highlanders, were part of the 44th Brigade., enlisting at Glasgow. His rank was Private and his Regiment No. was S/9868.
In Northern France the Seaforth Highlanders were engaged in fighting at Hohenzollern Redoubt along the Western Front. During the night of 10/11 July 1916, his company organised a raid on German trenches, where many casualities occured. It was during this raid that Leslie was struck in the head by a piece of flying schrapnel and was killed instantly. He was 23 years old. His body was recovered by his commrades and was later buried in the Vermelles British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Plot IV. F. 47. The headstone records his name as being L.Greirson (the name he took when re-enlisting for the Seaforth Highlanders). It is also noted that the spelling of the surname is incorrect and should read Grierson.

BIRKETT-VIPONT. - Killed in action, France, on the 11th July, Private T. (Leslie), dearly loved second son of Annie and the late Wm. R. Vipont, of Apollo Bay., loved brother of Will (on activeservice), Charlie, Archie, Lizzie, Evelyn, and George, and great-grandson of the late Sgt. John Grierson, of 73rd Highlanders, aged 23 years, late H.M.A.S. Australia and of the 8th Seaforth Highlanders.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
—(Inserted by his sorrowing mother, sisters, and brothers, Rosebank, Apollo Bay.)