Indigenous Australian, Private Wilfred CLAYTON, 49th & 41st Infantry Battalions
Wilfred Clayton enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) in Toowoomba, November 1915 age 23 and embarked from Sydney in May 1916.
Private Clayton trained for several months in Egypt before sailing for England with the 41st Infantry Battalion arriving in August 1916. He was fined for being Absent without Leave, in October before embarking for France the next month.
In March 1917 the 41st Infantry Battalion was engaged in operations near Armentiers and it was on the 9th of March that Private Clayton was killed in action.
Private Clayton is buried at Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentiers. His medals for service and personal effects were placed with his foster mother Isabella Laycock.
Read more ...
- Service record: CLAYTON, Wilfred
- AWM Roll of Honour
- Roll of Honour circular
- 'Roll of honour'. Western Star & Roma Advertiser, 28 March 1917, p2
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission
- One of the soldiers featured in SLQ’s HistoryPin Collection
- View the whole Collection: Indigenous enlistment
- Queensland’s Indigenous Servicemen Digital Story and Oral History
- Image: Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentiers, courtesy Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The information in this blog post has been researched by State Library staff and volunteers, it is based on available information at this time. If you have more information that you would like to share or further research uncovers new findings, this post will be updated.
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