Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Albert Henry Burford Albert Henry Burford (see figure 1), was the son of John Burford and Marry Ann (nee Crossman) Burford. When war broke out, Albert was living in Yacka, South Australia. Yacka (See figure 2) is a small town in the valley of the Broughton River in the mid North of South Australia; it is farming hinterland (Yacka.nacouncil.sa.gov.au. (2019). [online] Available at: http://yacka.nacouncil.sa.gov.au/ [Accessed 28 Mar. 2019].) . It can be assumed from the information presented, that Albert, was a farmer in a small country town. Before Albert went to war, his job was a labourer, a labourer is a person that does a job that involves a lot of hard physical work, labourers needed to have strength, and little education. (Collinsdictionary.com. (2019). Labourer definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary. [Online] Available at: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/labourer [Accessed 28 Mar. 2019]).Albert enlisted on 28th July 1916, Adelaide, he was 32 years old and 2 months when he enlisted. From information out of Oxford Big Ideas, most boys or men went to war because they thought that it was a glorious, exciting, and heroic, they also thought that they wouldn’t be wounded, let alone killed, as the stories they were told the hero’s (Soldiers) were rarely killed and one battles effortlessly.
As Albert had a lot of siblings, he could’ve joined the war, for money; the wage at that time varied, depending on what position in the war you occupied. The standard wage was 10 shillings, which today is 50 pence. Albert Henry Burford was the brother of Alan Clarence Burford who served in the 27th Battalion, and returned to Australia, Yacka, were they were living at the time, on the 20th December 1917. He was also the brother to David Percival Burford who served in the 43rd Battalion he returned to Australia on 12th May 1918. Arthur William Burford, Emily Ann Burford, Charles Thomas Burford, Edward Oliver Burford, and Eva Eliza Burford were Albert’s brothers and sisters. (ND, Virtual War Memorial, Albert Henry Burford, retrieved from URL)











Albert Henry Burford was the 7th reinforcement of the 32nd Battalion and of the 8th Brigade (See figure 1). The 32nd Infantry Battalion started as part of the 8th Brigade at Mitchem, on 9th August, 1915, on the outskirts of Adelaide. On the 19th July 1916 the 32nd Battalion fought in its first major battle at Fromelles, the 32nd Battalion had only entered the front-lined trenches 3 days before they went to war. On the 11th November 1918. The remanding people of the 32nd Battalion were merged with the 30th Battalion. There was 613 killed and 1466 wounded. The 8th Brigade joined the 5th Australian Division in Egypt, they then moved to France (Were Albert Henry Burford died) to the Western Front, in June 1916. The 32nd Battalions coloured patch was a white strip on one side, and yellow on the other side (See figure 2).The colour on the top shows the Battalion and the bottom colour shows the colour of the brigade. In this case with a rectangular one, the white is the top and the bottom is yellow. The First Division had a rectangular patch, the Second Division had a diamond shaped patch, the Third Division had a horizontal oval patch, the Fourth Division had a circle, the Fifth had a vertical oblong patch, and the Sixth had a vertical oval patch (See figure 3). Many new technologies were used in the WW1 War such as Tanks, Flamethrowers, Poison gas, Tracer bullets, and Air traffic control. The first tank, the British Mark I (See figure 4), was designed in 1915 and first saw battle at the Somme September 1916 (April 30 2017, Mental Floss, 12 Technological Advancements of World War I, Retrieved by URL) soon after the first tank went to battle the French made the Renault FT (see Figure 5) The first design for a flamethrower was submitted to the German Army by Richard Fiedler 1901; flamethrowers could “neutralise” (Burn alive) enemy soldiers in the bunkers and dugouts. The Germans pioneered the large-scale use chemical weapons with a gas attack on Russian positions January 31st, 1915, during the Bolimov battle. April 22, 1915, near Ypres, was when the first successful use of chemical weapons occurred. Soldiers in World War 1 didn’t spend all of the time in the trenches. Each soldier usually spent eight days in the front line and four days in the reserve trench. Another four days were spent in rest trench. It was not uncommon for soldiers to be in the front trenches for over 30 days. Being in the front line was extremely dangerous. Everyday some of the enemy shells would fall on the trenches. (2016, Spartacus Educational, Front Line Trenches. Retrieved form URL) World War 1 trenches were muddy, bloody, and barbed wired. They were also uncomfortable and the toilets overflowed. This caused lots of medical problems







Albert received 2 medals while he was at war, one of those medals was ‘The British War Medal’ (See Figure 1&2) The British War Medal is also named ‘Squeak’. Squeak is a silver or bronze medal that was awarded to officers and men of the British and Imperial forces, who either entered a war, theatre, or entered service overseas between the 5th August 1914 and the 11th November 1918. There was 6.5 million British War Medals were given out. 6.4 million of these medals were the silver . The rest were bronze. The front of the medal is the head of George V. The other medal that Albert got was the Allied Victory Medal (See figure 3), also known as ‘Wilfred’ It was agreed that each of the allies should produce the own bronze victory medal with a similar design, identical ribbon, and similar wording. 5.7 million Victory medals were released. The Victory medal was much more restrictive than most of the other medals as not everybody who received the British medal also received the Victory medal. On the front of the medal is a winged classical figure that represents victory (ND. British Campaign Medals of the First World War. The Great War. Retrieved URL.)Albert got both of these medals during the First World War. Albert got the British War Medal on the 21/6/21 and the Victory Medal on the 13/4/23. Albert Henry Burford’s last position was a Private. A Private or PTE for short; is a accomplishment of basic training, all new soldiers start as Privates, the name might not be Private as that position can also be called Gunner, Trooper, Craftsman, Signalman, Patrolman, Sapper, or Musician it depended on their Corp or Regiment. The Private is the second stage the first is a Recruit, which is where you have not finished, you’re training. The higher rank you are, you have the least chance of killing and being killed. (ND, Australian Army, Other Ranks. Retrieved from URL)













Albert died of wounds made from gas poisoning in France, 21 February 1917 (See source 1) Albert enlisted on the 28th July 1916, aged 34 and died aged 34.