Walter Victor Eastment – Catherine (alto)
Walter and Mary Eastment with their son Walter
Service number 1740
Private 4th reinforcements 13th Battalion
Enlisted 27 January 1915 Liverpool NSW
Embarked 14 March 1915 HMAT Shropshire
Joined unit at Gallipoli 27 May 1915
Wounded 7 August 1915 (knee injury)
Wounded – scalded foot – 27 August 1915
Transferred to St George’s Hospital, Malta then to England (Fulham Military Hospital then to Perham Downs Salisbury) on 5 September 1915 when the foot turned septic
Proceeded to France , rejoined unit 1 August 1916
Served in France between 1 August 1916 and 30 October 1916 (at depot, Etaples), 6 November 1916 – 24 January 1917, 9 February 1917-15 June 1917
Promoted ER Sergeant 1 April 1919, permanent promotion
Description: Informal portrait of Captain C E W Bean, Official War Correspondent, knee deep in mud in Gird trench, near Gueudecourt in France, during the winter of 1916-1917
Walter’s service record notes that he was a ‘Bugler – Special’
Born Selmelong, Northampton, Northamptonshire England
Occupation boothand
Appearance 5’ 51/2” dark hair, brown eyes
Age at enlistment 19 years 3 months
Walter served with the 13th Battalion during the bitter winter of 1916/1917, going into the line at Guedecourt and, in early 1917, Fricourt , with later movements towards the Hindenburg Line.
Walter married his sweetheart Mary Clifton while on leave in England in March 1916, and their son Walter was born within the year.
An Australian War Requiem 