Walter Clarke
Memorial: Pilning
Regiment: Royal Garrison Artillery
Medals: British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Gunner 163116
Parents: Walter and Rose Clarke
Home address: 9 Blands Row, Redwick, Pilning, Bristol
Date of birth: 1899
Place of birth: Saltford, Somerset, near Bath
Date of death: 26/12/1918
Buried/Commemorated at: Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery (H. 67.), Egypt
Age: 19
Further information:
Walter was the son of Walter and Rose Clarke, he was born in 1899, in Saltford, Somerset, near Bath. In the 1911 census the family was living at 9 Blands Row, Redwick, Pilning, children, Sidney (18) Walter (12) Dorothy (8) Alfred (5) Edwin (3) and Norah 3 months old.
Walter joined the 123rd Anti-Aircraft Section/ Royal Garrison Artillery. Gunner Walter Clarke died aged 19 years, from dysentery. His date of burial is recorded as 26th December 1918, and his grave is at Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt. Rose, his mother is named as his next of kin. Walter's brother, Sidney is also remembered on the Pilning Memorial.
After the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, Alexandria, in Egypt, remained an important hospital centre during operations in Egypt and Palestine, the port was much used by troop transports bringing reinforcements and hospital ships carrying the sick and wounded out of the theatres of war.
The Great War was the first in which heavier-than-air aircraft played an important role. Whilst the central role of the air forces was reconnaissance for the purpose of assisting the artillery, tactical and strategic bombing. Ground support and strafing, grew in importance as components of the air offensive approach of all sides. Shooting down enemy aircraft (or at least frightening them off) naturally followed as an important aspect of defence. Firing at a moving airborne target is most difficult, but the basics of weaponry, gunnery and command all developed fast during the war, and hence the first development of Anti-Aircraft Artillery.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
Publication: Village Heroes. Pilning and Severn Beach History Group. Nancy Vowles and Val George researched and put together the information
Forces War Records and CWGC