Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Arthur John Boitano (sometimes spelled Boitana) was a naturalised British subject born on the 31st of January 1896 in Port Adelaide, South Australia, and had the nicknames of Jack and Booty/Bootey. Arthur was the eldest son of Eliza Bootes and Giovanni Boitano. Arthur had one brother, Angelo Roy Boitano, and 2 half siblings, Herbert Walter Carr and Alice Maud Carr, who were twins from Eliza’s previous relationship.

Arthur had a dark complexion, with brown eyes and dark hair. He weighed 104 pounds and was 5ft, 2 ½ in tall, and his religious identity was congregational. Arthur wasn’t married at the time of his enlistment 23rd August 1915 and nominated his mother as his next of kin. He married his wife Violet Rose Boitano 9th November 1915 before embarkation. Arthur was a driver, and a wharf labourer for a company called Mallyons Ltd and was recorded on the Mallyons Honour Roll alongside his brother Angelo.

In June of 1915 the enlistment height allowance became 5 feet and 2 inches, and so Arthur enlisted on the 23rd of August 1915, in Adelaide, South Australia. He was underage, being 19 years and 7 months old, and his mother Eliza wrote his letter of consent. He was previously part of the junior cadets and completed his initial training at Mitcham with the 12th reinforcements to the 9th Light Horse Regiment.

After completing his training, Arthur departed from Port Melbourne, Victoria, on the 23rd of November 1915 on the HMAT A40 Ceramic with the 12th reinforcements for the 9th Light Horse. He arrived in Port Suez around the 28th of December. Arthur completed further training with his regiment at the Heliopolis racecourse in Egypt. On the 25th of January 1916, Arthur was ordered confinement to barracks for being absent to duty.

 His regiment’s first battle was in the defence of the Suez Canal across the Sinai Desert in March 1916. This battle aimed to push the Turkish forces out of the Sinai Peninsula with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. This reduced incoming threats to the allied-occupied canal and forced the Turkish soldiers to defend their territory in Palestine. In this action, the 9th Light Horse was involved in the advance that followed the Turks’ retreat back across the desert. After this, Arthur was admitted to 3rd Australian General Hospital for two months with colic and transferred to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital.

 Later in 1916, Arthur was with the Egyptian Expeditionary force, destroying the wells and waterholes on Turkish routes to the canal. This prevented the Turks from gaining more territory across the Sinai desert. In July 1916, Arthur was admitted to hospital for two days for heatstroke and returned to Moascar rest camp before returning to his regiment.

 In August, the Turks tried to capture the Suez Canal once again in the battle of Romani on the 3rd of August. The 9th Light Horse didn’t directly participate in the fighting of the battle but were involved in forcing the Turkish retreat back across the Sinai desert. This battle marked the end of attacks on the allied-occupied Suez Canal.

 Unfortunately, Arthur’s brother Angelo was killed in Action in Mouquet Farm, France on the 3rd of September 1916, at 18 years old.

 Arthur was sent to the Imperial School of Instruction to have machine gun training on the 31st of December 1916 and returned on the 20th of January 1917.

Arthur’s regiment was involved in the battles to capture Gaza in March and April 1917. In March, troops made slow progress across the enemy occupied territory but were able to capture the high ground of the city. Citing a lack of progress and the fear of not being able to reach a water source for the mounted forces, the Australians were ordered to withdraw.

 Three weeks later, the second battle of Gaza began with a frontal assault on the Ottomans. The battle was disastrous following the improvement of the Turkish defences. This battle produced the most bloodshed throughout the entirety of the allied operations in Palestine. The allied forces were rendered useless against the machine gun fire of the Turks on cliffs, and the battle was called off two days later.

 Arthur was admitted for debility in Moascar for 10 days from the 13th to the 23rd of July 1917. His first recorded case of Disorderly action of the heart (DAH, a nervous disorder), was reported another 10 days later on the 3rd August. Arthur was sent to various rest camps and hospitals before fighting in the third battle of Gaza on the 1st of November.

The battle was meant to draw the enemy forces towards Gaza. Three divisions were deployed, making the Turks believe that another frontal attack was coming. This meant that stationed troops were able to capture the unprepared and unsuspecting Beersheba. This allowed the allies to push the defensive lines of the Turks back towards Gaza. Gaza fell 6 days later on the 7th of November.

 The EEF advanced further into Palestine after the battle on the 17 of November before the Ottomans had time to re-prepare. By the 9th of December, several units of the EEF were successful in capturing Jerusalem. On the day of the capture, Arthur was admitted to hospital for disorderly action of the heart. He was transferred to many rest camps and hospitals before returning to the Desert Mounted Corps rest camp in Port Said on the 21st of December.

 Arthur was admitted to hospital for a deflected septum on the 15th of April 1918 and inflamed acute sinuses on the 18th. He was discharged on the 20th of May.

 The last battle that the 9th Light Horse was a part of was the battle of Megiddo. Arthur was in hospital for malaria during this time, meaning he never made it to the front line. Arthur was in hospital for 3 months and given leave to return home early. He left Port Suez on the 5th of February 1919 and arrived in Australia on the 9th of March. He was discharged from the AIF on the 24th of April. Arthur had spent 3 years and 112 days overseas at war. He was awarded the Victory Medal, the British War Medal, and the 1914/15 Star.

 Post-war, Arthur had 3 children: Arthur Ernest Boitano, Delta Valerie Boitano, and John Charles (Chic) Boitano. Arthur took up playing cricket and football, playing cricket for the Oak of Semaphore and Cobdogla cricket club, and footy for Cobdogla football club.

Arthur died in Sandwell (now Birkenhead), Port Adelaide, South Australia, on the 24th of July 1943, at 47 years old. He was found dead on the settee of his front porch with head injuries. This warranted a coroner’s inquest into his death. Reportedly, ‘Herbert Frederick Tilley of Hilton Street Birkenhead said that about 5.50 p.m. on July 23, at the request of some men outside a hotel, he took Boitano home. Boitano was breathing heavily and appeared to be too intoxicated to speak. Witness left Boitano sitting on a settee in the veranda, he showed no sign of injury. The coroner’s finding was that Boitano came to his death at Sandwell on July 24 from cerebral haemorrhage consequent on a fracture of the skull. The evidence, he said, did not enable him to make any positive finding as to the form of violence causing the fracture, but suggested that the injury was sustained in a fall while he was under the influence of liquor.’

Arthur is buried at West Terrace Cemetery.