Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Walter William Marsh
Walter was born in Littlebury Green, Saffron Walden early in 1886. He was the youngest son of Oliver Marsh, a horse keeper, and his wife Alice. In 1901, when Walter was 15, he was living at home and working as a houseboy, but in 1908 his mother died. Oliver moved to Harlow and lived with his daughter’s family in Mayfield Cottages, Sheering Road. Walter went to live with relations in Bradford and worked as a tram conductor, but then, in late 1911, he emigrated to Australia on HMS Orontes.
In Australia Walter worked as a labourer. On 10.05.1915 he enlisted in Brisbane, Queensland as Private 2412 in the 9th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). He was 28, C of E, 5’4’’ (163cms) tall, and had a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. After initial training he sailed for Europe from Sydney on HMAT Shropshire on 20.08.1915. The battalion were fighting at Gallipoli, but by the time Walter joined them in November they had just been evacuated to Lemnos for a rest. They remained in Lemnos until January 1916 when they sailed to Alexandria to prepare for deployment to the Western Front. In February Walter was transferred to the 49th Battalion, and the following month, at Tel el Kebir, to the newly formed 4th Australian Pioneer Battalion, who were tasked with engineering and construction as well as fighting.
Walter sailed from Alexandria with his battalion in June, and disembarked at Marseilles, France on 11.06.1916. A week later they marched up to the front line trenches near Armentieres, but were quickly moved on to join the Battle of the Somme. During the Battle of Pozieres in August Walter suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was hospitalised for 5 weeks, but returned to the front in September. In November he was again hospitalised, this time with septic varicose veins. He was evacuated from Calais to England and spent 4 months in the Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge. In March 1917 he was discharged from hospital to the Australian Army Depot in Weymouth.
Walter finally returned to the front in September, sailing to France from Southampton. He re-joined his battalion, who were fighting in the Third Battle of Ypres in Flanders, on 22.09.1917. Two days later, on 24.09.1917, Walter was badly wounded in action. Shrapnel from a high explosive shell hit him in the back and damaged his spine, causing paraplegia. He was taken to Etaples, a small town behind the front line with several military hospitals, where he was cared for by the St John’s Ambulance Brigade. He was then transferred to England and admitted to the King George Hospital, Lambeth, London on 29th September. He died a week later at 7.30am on 7th October 1917. He was 30 years old. His father, Oliver Marsh and 2 sisters were with him when he died. They still lived at Mayfield Cottages, Harlow, and he was brought to St Mary’s Churchgate Street for burial in grave F17. The Military Funeral was conducted at 3.00pm on 11.10.1917 by an AIF chaplain. The ‘good polished elm’ coffin was draped with the Australian flag. The AIF provided a Firing Party and a bugler, who played the ‘Last Post’ at the graveside.
Sources: National Archives of Australia; Ancestry; Commonwealth War Graves Commission; Wikipedia.