Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

George Philip SLATTER was born in Englesberg, Queensland on 26th September, 1893

His parents were Jonathan SLATTER & Ellen Rosina NIEBLING

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His brother Alexander SLATTER (SN 137) also served during WW1 and returned to Australia on 30th January, 1918

George Phillip Slatter  #136  11th Machine Gun Company
 
George Slatter was born at Engelsburg (now Kalbar) in the Fassifern Valley to Johnathan and Ellen Slatter. By the time George was old enough to attend school, the family had moved to Maroon and it was there that George went to school. The Slatter family would appear to be closely related to the Cook family and both names appear prominently on the Maroon War Memorial. The Australian War Memorial has in its collection a photograph of George Slatter and his brother Alexander, and their cousin George Cook. All three would appear to be home at Maroon on leave before going overseas.
 
George presented himself for enlistment at Adelaide Street on 10th February 1916, stating his age as 22 years and his occupation as farmer. He also reported that he had previously been rejected for enlistment due to a knee complaint. After originally being drafted into a depot battalion at Enoggera, George was taken on as an original enlistment for the 11th Machine Gun Company which was training at Chermside.
 
The 11th MG Coy travelled to Sydney by train where they marched to the docks to board the transport “Borda” on 5th June 1916. The embarkation roll shows George and his younger brother Alexander with successive regimental numbers. Each had allocated 3/- a day to their mother. The machine gunners sailed via the Suez Canal to Marseilles, and then train to Havre (Le Havre) before arriving in England for further training. The Company eventually recrossed the Channel as a support unit for the 11th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Division in November 1916.
 
Soon after arrival in France, George was promoted to temporary corporal. The promotion was made permanent on 1st March 1917. During an action near Ploegsteert Wood (the soldiers called it Plug Street) on 14th March; George Slatter was wounded in the head, calf and hip by a German machine gun. He was admitted first to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station before being transferred to the Norfolk War Hospital in Norwich by hospital ship. George would spend the next seven months in hospital and convalescent depots before being discharged to return to his unit.
 
While George had been recuperating in England, the entire AIF had been engaged in Belgian Flanders in the campaign which is usually referred to as Passchendaele. By the time he returned to the 11th MG Coy, the unit was in a rear rest area. On 23rd October, just as the campaign in Flanders was being closed down for the winter, George was promoted to Temporary Sergeant.
 
The next few months, the AIF divisions rotated in and out of the line around Ploegsteert and Warneton between periods of rest and training. On 28th January, while the 11th MG Coy were relieving another company, an artillery shell landed in the support trench. Two men were killed and a further nine were seriously wounded.
 
George Slatter was one of those wounded. He was taken to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station (the same CCS he had been in the previous year) with a severe shrapnel wound to his legs and back. George perhaps guessed that he would not survive on this occasion. He dictated a letter for his mother to a Private Stephensen and died of his wounds nine hours after being admitted to the CCS.
 
George was buried in the Trois Arberes Cemetery adjacent to the CCS. His father requested 24 photographs of his sons grave when permanent headstones were erected at war’s end.
George’s brother, Alexander, was severely wounded in France and was repatriated back to Australia for discharge. A cousin Francis Leonard Slatter served as a driver in the Service Corps and returned to Australia where he subsequently joined the Royal Australian Navy as a stoker. All three names appear on the Maroon War Memorial.