SWINTON, Roy
| Service Number: | 6418 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 27 July 1916, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 4th Field Ambulance |
| Born: | Warrnambool, Victoria, 1 January 1896 |
| Home Town: | Warrnambool, Warrnambool, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Memorials: | Warrnambool Agricultural High School Honor Roll, Warrnambool Woollen Mill Honor Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 18 Nov 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Bombardier, 6418, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Wiltshire embarkation_ship_number: A18 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Nov 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Bombardier, 6418, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, HMAT Wiltshire, Melbourne | |
| 27 Jul 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Melbourne, Victoria | |
| 22 Sep 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 6418, 4th Field Ambulance |
A tribute to my paternal Great Grandfather, Sgt Roy Swinton
Sgt Roy Swinton
4th Field Artillery Brigade, 10th Battery
Mentioned in Despatches for laying communication lines under enemy fire.
Roy enlisted at age 19, in October of 1915, as a bombardier (equivalent to a private in the Artillery). He had been a clerk at the family store in Warrnambool, and then trained initially at Albert Park on 18 Pounder field guns (which the unit used until the end of the war). From there he sailed to Egypt in November of 1915 to join the 2nd Division after their withdrawal from Gallipoli. In March 1916 the brigade embarked at Alexandria for France, as the AIF moved to the Western Front.
The 2nd Division's, and the 4th Field Brigade's, first major offensive was the Battle of the Somme. The Somme offensive claimed the lives of over 600,000 allied soldiers and the battery trained in anti-tank warfare there, one of the first to do so against this new weapon. The 4th was deployed near Pozieres, in late July 1916, where it was involved in constant action against the Germans.
In September the brigade was given some relief, as it moved to Flanders and Ypres, but in November it returned to the Somme, to the Bapaume area, ten kilometres north-east of Pozieres. As the harsh winter began to set in, the brigade experienced its first gas attacks. It was during one of these that my Great Grandfather received a lungful of mustard gas. For the rest of his life this terrible weapon caused fluid to build on his lungs that he had to clear every day at much discomfort, and it undoubtedly contributed to his untimely death in his early sixties.
In March 1917 the Germans withdrew to the Hindenburg Ling and the 4th moved forward to Bullecourt. The brigade moved to Flanders in June and was in constant action to November, supporting allied attacks on Messines, Polygon Wood, and then Passchendaele, as part of the Third Battle of Ypres. During this period, the brigade suffered its heaviest casualties of the war, 151 in October and 145 in November, including killed, wounded, and evacuated ill.
These battles and places where he served on the Western Front are the stuff of ghastly legend - all of them the most violent battles and harshest environments of WW1. They continued to pound the Germans for the final year of the war. On Armistace Day the brigade's war diary recorded that the "news was taken quietly by the troops". I’m sure they were sick of it by then.
Roy left the army as a sergeant. He returned to Australia (as did his brother who was in the Australian Flying Corps) and rejoined the family business at Swinton’s Department Store. He was a great lover of gardening, a love passed onto my Grandmother. Like so many, he rarely spoke of his wartime experience.
It was a stupid war (stupider than most) but we were involved and I’m proud of my family’s involvement. The 2nd/10th Medium Regiment still exists to this day as Reserves, based in Chapel St, St Kilda, operating the F2 81mm mortar. It is the longest continual serving unit in Victorian history.
Submitted 21 April 2015 by Hamish Henderson
Biography
A tribute to my paternal Great Grandfather, Sgt Roy Swinton
4th Field Artillery Brigade, 10th Battery
Mentioned in Despatches for laying communication lines under enemy fire.
Roy enlisted at age 19, in October of 1915, as a bombardier (equivalent to a private in the Artillery). He had been a clerk at the family store in Warrnambool, and then trained initially at Albert Park on 18 Pounder field guns (which the unit used until the end of the war). From there he sailed to Egypt in November of 1915 to join the 2nd Division after their withdrawal from Gallipoli. In March 1916 the brigade embarked at Alexandria for France, as the AIF moved to the Western Front.
The 2nd Division's, and the 4th Field Brigade's, first major offensive was the Battle of the Somme. The Somme offensive claimed the lives of over 600,000 allied soldiers and the battery trained in anti-tank warfare there, one of the first to do so against this new weapon. The 4th was deployed near Pozieres, in late July 1916, where it was involved in constant action against the Germans.
In September the brigade was given some relief, as it moved to Flanders and Ypres, but in November it returned to the Somme, to the Bapaume area, ten kilometres north-east of Pozieres. As the harsh winter began to set in, the brigade experienced its first gas attacks. It was during one of these that my Great Grandfather received a lungful of mustard gas. For the rest of his life this terrible weapon caused fluid to build on his lungs that he had to clear every day at much discomfort, and it undoubtedly contributed to his untimely death in his early sixties.
In March 1917 the Germans withdrew to the Hindenburg Ling and the 4th moved forward to Bullecourt. The brigade moved to Flanders in June and was in constant action to November, supporting allied attacks on Messines, Polygon Wood, and then Passchendaele, as part of the Third Battle of Ypres. During this period, the brigade suffered its heaviest casualties of the war, 151 in October and 145 in November, including killed, wounded, and evacuated ill.
These battles and places where he served on the Western Front are the stuff of ghastly legend - all of them the most violent battles and harshest environments of WW1. They continued to pound the Germans for the final year of the war. On Armistace Day the brigade's war diary recorded that the "news was taken quietly by the troops". I’m sure they were sick of it by then.
Roy left the army as a sergeant. He returned to Australia (as did his brother who was in the Australian Flying Corps) and rejoined the family business at Swinton’s Department Store. He was a great lover of gardening, a love passed onto my Grandmother. Like so many, he rarely spoke of his wartime experience.
It was a stupid war (stupider than most) but we were involved and I’m proud of my family’s involvement. The 2nd/10th Medium Regiment still exists to this day as Reserves, based in Chapel St, St Kilda, operating the F2 81mm mortar. It is the longest continual serving unit in Victorian history.
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