Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Before the War

Albert Carter was born in the year 1894 and was 21 years and 8 months at the age of enlistment. He was 5 feet 5 inches, 139 pounds and had a chest size of 33.35 inches. His skin was fair, eyes grey, hair brown and had perfect vision. Albert was born in Brooklyn Park, SA with his brother, mother and father. Born to a working-class family, he and his father’s occupation was a general labourer and fitter of machinery parts. Albert’s family later moved to Port Road, Southwark, Adelaide and at some point, his father John Carter died leaving Albert and his brother alone.

Life on The Western Front

He signed up in Keswick, Adelaide and was placed into the 27th Infantry Battalion and sent to the Base Infantry Oaklands training camp. Private Albert Carter, after training, embarked from Adelaide aboard the HMAT Geelong A2 on the 31st of May 1915 and embarked to Egypt for another 2 months of training. After which, and long months on a ship, his first destination was at Gallipoli where he landed on the Gallipoli peninsular on the 25th of October 1915 and remained there until the front was abandoned and the troops retreated on the 8th of January 1916.

After leaving Gallipoli and spending more time in Egypt, Carter arrived at Marseilles in France to join the BEF (British Expeditionary Forces) on the 15th of March 1916. Six days later on the 21st, he was sent to an unknown place on the Western Front where he remained until he suffered from a shell shock wound and was admitted to the STAT Hospital in Boulogne at 2 pm the same day. After nine days in the hospital, Carter was sent back to the front lines. He went back and forth from the battlefield to the hospital several times over the next few months.

Due to the horrendous condition sustained on The Western Front, on the 21st of July 1916 it was discovered that he had developed Myalgia, meaning muscle aches and pains that might have been a symptom of another disease, however, that is unconfirmed. Carter was sent away from Calais to England, where he arrived the same day at the Norfolk War Hospital in Norwich. It took Albert 2 months to recover until the 13th of September 1916 when he was discharged from the hospital and 5 days later reported to the Bulford Military Hospital for unknown reasons and stayed there for 24 days. On the 11th of September 1916, he reported to the company base depot where he, on the 22nd of November, was put into detention for 12 days for the reasons of neglecting to obey orders, being in possession of a forged pass and railway warrant and not possessing a pay book or identity disk. After that, he remained in the company base depot until the 4th of February 1917. On this date, Carter was posted back to France via Folkstone and got into trouble again, this time for failing to entrain or report to his unit and lost 14 days’ pay. On the 8th he re-joined his unit and a day later his battalion.

Nearly a year later on the 3rd of February 1918 Albert Carter was given English leave and travelled to Scotland where he got married to Agnes Walker on the 12th of February. 8 days later he had to return to France and continue to fight until the 21st of July 1918, 5 months after returning from leave, when he was admitted to hospital and 4 days later, after being discharged from the field hospital, Carter was detached and added to the Deputy Assistant Director Ordnance Services 2nd Australian Division. After falling sick and put into the Hospital Train to the Australian Base Depot to recover on the 6th of October 1918 he arrived at the depot on the 31st of October 1918. After recovering fully he continued to serve as part of the DADOS until the end of the war which was the 11 of November and on the 8th of January 1918 where he re-joined his unit and battalion at the end of the war to return home to Australia with his wife on the 8th of August 1919.

After returning to Australia, Private Albert Carter was awarded the British War Medal, the British Star and the Victory Medal on the 1st of June 1921.

How does Albert Carter show the ANZAC spirit?

The way that Albert Carter displayed the ANZAC spirit was that he signed up in the first place, he left his home and everything he knew to go and put himself in harm’s way to fight for his country. He continued to return to the battlefield time and time again even though he had to go in and out of the hospital almost the entire war.