Geburtsjahr: 1890

Geburtsort: Chinley, Derbyshire, England, Vereinigtes Königreich

Beruf: Eisenbahn-Lokreiniger

Land: Australia

Truppe: Australian Imperial Force

Rang: Sapper

Dienstnummer: 395

Einberufung datum: 08/03/1915

Einberufung ort: Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia

Einheiten:  —  Australian Divisional Signal Company, 2nd Coy.  (Letzte bekannte Einheit)

Sterbedatum: 08/10/1917

Sterbeort: Smyth Camp, Belgien

Todesursache: Im Kampf gefallen

Alter: 27

British War Medal Medaille

Victory Medal Medaille

Walter Brookes was born in 1890 in Chinley, Derbyshire. He was the first child of Betsy and George Brookes. In 1910 Walter emigrated to Australia, where he worked as a railway engine cleaner. In March 1915 he volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force. On 26 October 1916 while already in Europe he married Alice Louisa Slater in Stockport, Cheshire, near the town where he was born. Two days later Walter was transferred from the 17th Battalion Australian Infantry to the Australian Engineers, Signal Company of the 2nd Australian Division.

Mid-September 1917 the 2nd Australian Division moved to Flanders to join the allied offensive near Ypres. During what would later be known as the Battle of Passchendaele the 2nd Division Signal Company, mainly looked after the internal communication of the Division.

According to his Red Cross Wounded and Missing file, Walter was the batman of Lieutenant Fraser, who maintained communication with the 5th Australian Brigade Royal Field Artillery of the Division. On Monday 8 October 1917 they were possibly both near the Company’s billets at Smyth Camp, north of the village of Dikkebus, when a bomb of a German aeroplane or a shell exploded nearby. Walter, 27-years old, was killed outright, while Lieutenant Fraser was wounded. Walter was buried on the nearby Poperinghe New Military Cemetery.

2nd Australian Division Signals Company, (Australian War Memorial, Campbell (AWM), AWM4 22/12/10). https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1338583 Verwendete Quellen

First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, (National Archives of Australia, Canberra (NAA), B2455, BROOKES W). https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/NameSearch.aspx Verwendete Quellen

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/139083

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=38b43160-5025-45c4-b71c-3bb1ef855c3b

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/7371590

The AIF Project (UNSW Canberra) https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=33849