Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Uncle had kept me at bay though he had much to tell, about
the war, would only say: “It was sheer bloody hell”
He never would elaborate I never asked him why,
As it’s wrong to interrogate was not
for me to pry,
But I found out so much more when I asked my mother,
She said “when at the First World War he had lost his
brother”.
Mum said, “ it was the first campaign our uncles went to
war where many brave men were slain that was the hell
he saw”
At the start with charge in motion his brother was with
him, but then during the commotion he had lost sight of
him.
He had hoped to find him alive but it was all in vain,
his brother Jim did not survive, he fell amongst the slain.
The turks were well prepared they picked them off at
will,
And why some died whilst others spared our diggers
question still.
And from all the accounts I find was doomed from the
first day, and although men left the war behind
tormented minds would stay.
And Uncle George would suffer long from the horrors
that remain, of a battle that had gone wrong explains his
life of pain. And the carnage that he had seen where
many comrades fell, those glory days of war are too
painful to tell.
So when I reflect each ANZAC Day why diggers nev
er tell, I recall Uncle George would say “It was sheer
bloody hell”

In the dawn of a splendid manhood
When the tide of his youth ran high
With courage and hope in his bearing
He waved us a last goodbye.

Name: Walter James Stafford
Rank: Private
Service Number: 1310
Units: 19th Battalion 1st AIF, 5th Machine Gun Company.
Personal Life: Walter was born in Gunnedah, NSW in early 1893.
Enlistment Details: Walter was 22 years when he enlisted at Liverpool NSW on the 1st of March 1915. He was 5 foot 6 ¾ inches tall and weighed 138 lbs. He had a medium complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He was a member of the Methodist Church.
He was a blacksmith by trade. He listed his brother, Edward, as his next of kin. He was assigned as an original member to the 19th Battalion. He is known to be of First Nations background.

Service: Walter left Sydney aboard the “Ceramic” on the 25th of June 1915. The battalion arrived in Alexandria n the 25th July and were based at Camp Heliopolis. The battalion then left Egypt for Lemnos on the 16th of August and landed on Anzac on the 21st. Some of the battalion were posted to Hill 60 during August but on the 18th of September the whole battalion were posted to Pope’s Post. They remained there for the whole of October and November.

The battalion started to evacuate from Anzac on the 18th December and all had left by dawn of the morning on the 20th and were back at Lemnos. They remained in camp there until the 4th January 1916 when they embarked for Egypt. They were sent to camp at Tel-el-Kebir where they continued to train until the 23rd when they marched to Ismaili to help defend the Suez Canal. While battalion remained there throughout February, Walter was sent to Machine Gun School at “Katoomba”. He spent over 3 weeks there training in the use of the machine gun. He was transferred from the 19th Battalion to the 5th Machine Gun Company on the 8th March.

He left Egypt again from Alexandria on the 17th March and arrived in Marseilles on the 23rd. He would then have made his way north through France via train. Many soldiers who made that journey remarked on how beautiful the country was.
When the Australians first arrived on the Western Front, they were sent to an area at the very north of France around the city of Armentieres which was considered a “nursery area” where the “inexperienced” soldiers could be gently introduced to the warfare of the trenches.

While it was relatively quiet, there was action occurring on a regular basis and both sides conducted raids to disrupt the enemy’s preparations and to gather intelligence about their movements and dispositions.
On the 5th of May 1916, the Germans were being very active in the area facing Walter’s unit and there was considerable shelling to support this activity. It was a shell that hit Walter while he was at his gun which killed him instantly, according to his Commanding Officer, who wrote to Walter’s brother to tell him the bad news and to convey how proud he should be of his brother’s bravery.

While two witnesses who wrote to Walter’s brother state that he was killed on the 5th May, his death date is officially the 6th May.

He was buried in the Brewery Orchard Cemetery in Bois-Grenier in the north of France.