Wilfred Alexander BUCHANAN

BUCHANAN, Wilfred Alexander

Service Number: 329
Enlisted: 17 August 1914, An original of E Company
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 5th Infantry Battalion
Born: Walhalla, Victoria, Australia, 29 January 1895
Home Town: South Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Fitter and Turner
Died: 1968, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Not yet discovered
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World War 1 Service

17 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 329, 5th Infantry Battalion, An original of E Company
21 Oct 1914: Involvement Private, 329, 5th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Orvieto embarkation_ship_number: A3 public_note: ''
21 Oct 1914: Embarked Private, 329, 5th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Orvieto, Melbourne

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Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

Wilfred Buchanan 5th Battalion AIF served at the Landing on Anzac and was wounded in the foot on the first day. He wrote the following letter from Hospital in Mena, Egypt about a week later and it was published in the Walhalla Chronicle 25 June 1915.

“…..The machine gun section was the first to leave our boat — 5.30, and we nearly stopped a shell on the way to the beach, as it went right over us and laid out about a dozen of another party on the bench. There was no landing place so when the boat touched bottom we had to jump into the water up to our waists. There was no time to feel frightened as shells were bursting overhead and bullet shells were flying all round us. We had orders to take no prisoners, so when our chaps caught a sniper — and they were hidden all over the place — they made a good job of him. They were using dum dum and explosive bullets. The Turks had the range of every ridge to a nicety, and it was a wonder we ever got ashore, as the whole place was swept with shrapnel fire. It was not until the next morning that they could get any artillery ashore, and then an Indian mountain battery came up and quietened the Turks fire a lot. They (the Turks) fired on the stretcher par-ties and Red Cross. Quite a lot of our fellows got hurt through falling over cliffs and into the gullies. I felt pretty shaky when I saw friends drop, but you soon get used to that, and want to get even with them. It was about 5 o'clock when a shell burst overhead, and I felt as if someone had dropped a brick on my foot, till I saw a hole in my boot and blood dropping out, so I scrambled behind cover and bound it up with my first aid dressing. It was quite exciting getting back to the beach, as snipers were at it all the time, and their guns were playing on the gullies to prevent reinforcements from coming up….”

Wilfred returned to Gallipoli but was evacuated again in September 1915 with enteric. He was returned to Australia 11 April 1916 and discharged medically unfit. His younger brother Eric Thomas Buchanan was killed in action at Pozieres a few months later.

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