SAUNDERS, Walter Geoffrey
| Service Number: | 6667 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Driver |
| Last Unit: | 8th Field Ambulance |
| Born: | Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, 2 March 1889 |
| Home Town: | Arncliffe, Rockdale, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Tram Conductor |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 4 May 1918, aged 29 years |
| Cemetery: |
Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 10 Nov 1915: | Involvement Driver, 6667, 8th Field Ambulance, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Nov 1915: | Embarked Driver, 6667, 8th Field Ambulance, HMAT Ascanius, Melbourne | |
| 4 May 1918: | Involvement Driver, 6667, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 6667 awm_unit: 5th Australian Divisional Mechanical Transport Company awm_rank: Driver awm_died_date: 1918-05-04 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Walter Geoffrey SAUNDERS (‘Wal’) (Service Number 6667) was born at Darwin on 2nd March 1889. His family was living in Sydney at the time he enlisted in 1915. He joined the Tramways as a conductor in May 1911, at first casually employed, and then permanently from April 1912. He was released from duty in April 1915 to enlist in the AIF and did so at Liverpool.
He was allotted to the 8th Field Ambulance. He was embarked from Melbourne in November 1915 for the Middle East, and after a spell in Egypt was sent in June 1916 from Alexandria to France, landing at Marseilles. He was transferred to ‘K’ Supply Column in August 1917, then in November to the 5th Australian Divisional Supply Column. He was still attached to the Field Ambulance. He was given a few weeks leave in the United Kingdom in February-March 1918. On his return he transferred to the 5th Australian Motor Transport Company.
He was driving for that unit when on 4th May 1918 he was killed in action. The commanding officer of the 8th Field Ambulance reported:
‘He was driving an ambulance car along the road between the villages of Fouilloy and Hamelet (near Corbie) at mid-day … when a shell landed on the road immediately in front of the car and killed both Driver Saunders and the orderly outright. He was wounded in the neck. He is buried in the British Military Section of the Communal Cemetery at Daours…’
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board