Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Walter Henry Wippell was the eldest son of Minnie May Wraith and Harry Vincent Wippell. Walter enlisted in the AIF on the 10th of February 1916, being assigned to the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade (FAB), 19th Reinforcements. He embarked from Sydney on the Mashobra on the 14th of September 1916, disembarking at Plymouth on the 2nd of November. In January 1917 his unit Soon after he arrived at Etaples, France and he was transferred to the 1st Division Ammunition Column (DAC). By the end of January Walter was assigned to the Trench Mortar school where he remained for a month. Divisional mortar units consisted of light, medium, and heavy trench mortars. The mortar’s characteristic high angle trajectory suited it to trench warfare, however its short range meant that the mortar crews were located close to the front lines where they tended to attract enemy counter battery fire.

On return from mortar school, he was appointed to the 2nd Battery, 1st FAB and thence to its supporting ammunition column, 1st DAC. By late February 1917 the 1st Division A.I.F was involved in pursuing the German forces as they retreated to fortified positions along the Hindenburg Line. In April the allied 5th Army moved against the Germans at Arras and the 1st Division captured the villages of Hermies, Boursiers and Demicourt. The failed attempt to capture the village of Bullecourt by the 4th Australian Division and 62nd British Division and the action around Arras had stretched the 5th Army’s front line leaving the 1st Division to defend some 12,000 yards of ground. The German high command sought to exploit this apparent weakness and launched an offensive at Lagnicourt on the 15th of April committing some 23 battalions, opposing them was four Australian battalions. During the heavy fighting some of the 1st Divisions artillery batteries were overrun and some of the big guns were destroyed. Despite the attack the line held, and the attack was repulsed but the 1st Division had suffered nearly 1000 casualties during the fighting.

By the end of April Walter was admitted to the 3rd Field Ambulance Station with a case of scabies. A constant problem during trench warfare these pesky mites, Sarcoptes scabiei burrow into the skin of their victims to deposit eggs. Symptoms include intense itching and rash with mite burrows visible Treatment involved a warm bath and a good scrub with soft soap and a brush. After drying the patient was covered with a liberal quantity of sulphur ointment with special attention being given to the hand’s feet and penis. Application of the sulphur was repeated for three days before a second bath was given on the fourth day. Fresh clothing and bedding were then issued to the patient. This treatment was successful in the majority of cases.

After eleven days in hospital Walter re-joined the 1st DAC division artillery column and in July the 1st Division artillery was in action during the 3rd Battle of Ypres, which soon turned into another vicious slaughter with the 1st Division losing some 2700 men. Between the months of March and November 1917 the 1st Division suffered more than 6000 men killed or injured and consequently only featured in support roles during the last weeks of 1917. In December Walter was promoted to Bombardier and soon after was sent on leave to England. Whilst on leave he was admitted to the General Hospital, Edinburgh with severe inflammation of the Larynx. His condition must have been quite serious as his condition was initially recorded as being the result of a gas attack, but this was eventually corrected in his record. Walter was unable to re-join his unit until the end of April 1918. To remain with the 1st Division DAC Walter gives up the rank of Bombardier and reverts to Gunner and he is working at the division’s artillery headquarters during the start of the “Hundred Days Offensive” in August of 1918 and by the end of September the 1st Division was withdrawn from the front line.

The first wave of the influenza pandemic hit Europe in early spring 1918 and quickly spread around the globe. By October 1918 the pandemic had reached New Zealand and the Pacific where the death toll amongst Māori and islanders was around 46 deaths per 1000 cases. Australia announced a strict marine quarantine, but with thousands of troops expecting to return home in 1919 it was only a matter of time before the disease gained a foot hold. Walter was slotted for early repatriation and left England in late March 1919 aboard the troopship "Port Dennison". The first wave of Influenza broke out in New South Wales in mid-March and the public was panicked by the ferocity of the disease. Newspapers fanned the flames of public unrest reporting people waking fine in the morning and being dead from influenza by nightfall. Regular reports of deaths and sensational descriptions of former plagues filled the newspaper columns. The pandemic caused disputes between the states and the Commonwealth over border closures, and the quarantine of returning servicemen. Troops onboard the "Port Dennison" had been promised that quarantine would only be required if they dis-embarked in Sydney. When the ship arrived in Moreton Bay, Queensland on May 16th, 1919, the troops were enraged when they were told they were to be quarantined at Lytton before being allowed to return home. A stand-off developed with the troops refusing to disembark the ship, eventually cooler heads prevailed, and they were put ashore in the late evening. The pandemic raged through Queensland racking up a terrible death toll amongst indigenous populations, with a mortality rate approaching 50 per cent in some communities. At Barambah Station on the Darling Downs at least 600 contracted the disease and in early 1919 a total of 800 became infected at Yarabah and Taroom Stations. The death rate amongst European Australians was around 3 deaths per 1000 cases.

Surviving the war and the pandemic Walter settled down in St George working as a grazier. In October 1920 he married Marion Hilda Gilmour and the couple lived for many years on the cattle station "Bogong" at Dirranbandi, near the New South Wales border.