Lance Corporal John Wallace Walder, 6th Battalion, AIF
Australian War MemorialJohn Walder was born in 1889 to James and Sarah Walder. His father came to Australia from London in the early 1870s to work on railway construction in Tasmania. However, finding himself unsuited to the work, he moved to the mainland, married, and brought up a large family on a property near Watchem in Victoria.
John was born in nearby Donald, and attended school in Watchem West. When he was five years old, his family suffered a tragedy when his elder brother David was killed in a house fire. However, thanks to his father’s efforts, 11 Walder children and their mother safely escaped.
John Walder went on to become a farmer like his father, and in May 1915, he was the third member of the Walder family to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force, following his brothers Alexander and Llewellyn. A fourth brother, Harry, would enlist in November 1916.
Unlike Alexander and Llewellyn, who were posted to the 1st Pioneer Battalion, John Walder went into the 6th Battalion. He had a period of training in Australia before leaving Melbourne in August 1915 on board the troopship Anchises.
Private Walder was first sent to Egypt to continue training. There he was able to meet his brother Alexander, who had returned from Gallipoli. Alexander gleefully reported home that John had “got quite stout on the job”.
John arrived on the Gallipoli peninsula in early November 1915. The major offensives were long over by that time but the peninsula was still a dangerous place. Walder proved an able soldier and was promoted to lance corporal shortly after his arrival on Gallipoli.
A little over a week after his promotion, Walder was shot in the head and evacuated to hospital in Cairo with a fractured skull.
As the Australians were being evacuated from Gallipoli, Lance Corporal Walder rallied and word was sent to his family that he seemed to be getting better. Alexander wrote to his parents:
“I … hope and trust poor old Jack is on the improve. I have not heard any more than that he was on the mend, so he may go right back [to Australia] or to England. It is to be hoped he does.”
Two days after Christmas, Walder’s condition deteriorated. On 8 January 1916 he died of wounds sustained on the Gallipoli peninsula. He was 26 years old.
In Australia his death was reported in the local newspaper:
“[John] was in the prime of early manhood, and was brave and fearless as a soldier. He played his part in the war, and lost a life, which undoubtedly had a brilliant future … his lamentable death has been the source of universal regret.”
Dr Meleah Hampton, Historian, Military History Section
Image: Studio portrait of 2690 Lance Corporal (L Cpl) John Wallace Walder, farmer, of Watchem, Victoria. c.1915
