| Regimental number | 3312 |
| Place of birth | Benalla, Victoria |
| School | Benalla and Lancefield State Schools, Victoria |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
| Occupation | Painter |
| Address | Brisbane, Queensland |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 25 |
| Height | 6' 1" |
| Weight | 177 lbs |
| Next of kin | Father, W Abbott, Sunshine, Victoria |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
| Place of enlistment | Brisbane, Queensland |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 25th Battalion, 7th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/42/2 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A50 Itonus on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 12th Machine Gun Company |
| Other details from Roll of Honour Circular | Only son of Walter Albert and Annie ABBOTT, of Sunshine, Victoria |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Polygon Wood, Belgium |
| Age at death | 27.10 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 27 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 31), Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
| Family/military connections | Cousin: 386 Pte George PLUNKETT, 16th Bn, killed in action, 1 July 1915. |
| Other details |
War service: Western Front Taken on strength, 47th Bn, Tel el Kebir, 9 March 1916. Transferred to 12th Machine Gun Company, 25 March 1916. Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 2 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 11 June 1916. Admitted to hospital (influenza), France, 1 August 1916; rejoined unit, 6 August 1916. Found guilty, 24 December 1916, of (1) being absent without leave from billets, 7.30am 21 December 1917 to 8.00am, 23 December 1916, and (2) removing public property (a bicycle) without permission: awarded 28 days Field Punishment No.1 and forfeits 3 days pay. Admitted to 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station (venereal disease), France, 29 May 1917; transferred to 7th Convalescent Depot, Boulogne, 30 May 1917; transferred to 51st General Hospital, Etaples, 1 June 1917; discharged to base details, Etaples, 27 June 1917. Marched into Machine Gun Brigade Depot, Camiers, 28 June 1917. Rejoined 12th Machine Gun Company in the field, 24 September 1917. Killed in action, Polygon Wood, Belgium, 26 September 1917. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
| Sources | NAA: B2455, ABBOTT Walter Albert |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
