Enlistment Address

Collie, NSW

Service Number

1638

Unit

45th Battalion,

Comment

Tooraweenah Kookaburra

Fate

Died POW 17.8.1917

Information

GIDDINS Walter

Private Walter Giddins was a 42 year old labourer of Collie NSW, when he joined the Tooraweenah Kookaburra March at Mendooran. He passed the medical examination and it described him as 6’ 1” tall, 163 lbs(74kgs), chest expansion 36-38”, fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, and no distinctive marks. His father, Henry Giddins lived at Warren, NSW and was his next of kin.

After training at Bathurst, Walter embarked at Sydney on 14 April 1916 on the HMAT Ceramic, bound for Egypt. The 45^th Battalion trained until June, when they left for England arriving in Plymouth on 16 June, 1916.Walter joined the 13^th Battalion in France on 12 March, 1917 and a few short weeks later was missing in action from 11 April, 1917.

The 13^th Battalion was part of a disastrous attack on the Hindenburg Line that day. Walter was one of 367 men missing that day. Casualties were; 25 men killed, 118 men wounded and 367 men missing, a total of 510 casualties from the 13^th Battalion.

In August 1917, the Germans notified the London authorities that Walter Giddins had died of pneumonia and nephritis, whilst being detained at Limburg, Belgium. He was buried at Tournai Communal Cemetery Belgium. A statement from a repatriated Prisoner of War stated that he had seen Walter Giddins suffering from starvation and heavy work.

Walter’s father received photos of the grave, the Memorial Plaque, Memorial Scroll, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Walter is commemorated on the Collie War Memorial and the Australian War Memorial Panel number 69.