Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Evan Marshall was an Australian soldier, born in approximately May 1891, who deployed to the Western front during the latter half of the First World War. Born in Ballarat and living at Berringa, town 43 kilometres southwest of Ballarat, Victoria, he affiliated as a Methodist Christian. Supplementally, Marshall was brought up under the auspice of his mother, Jane Marshall. His enlistment date was 14 December of 1915, when he was 24. At the time of his enrolment into the army, Marshall was 161 centimetres tall, which was below average for a soldier conscripted in the Great War. The recruit had a fair complexion, having brown hair and grey eyes. Further, he weighed 53 kilograms.  After enlistment, Marshall was appointed to the Alfa Company of the 2nd Depot Battalion but was later shifted to the 43rd Infantry Battalion. He would have resided in the Warradale Barracks in Morphettville.

On the 9th of June, the Battalion sailed to Albany from Adelaide on the HMAT A10 Afric, arriving four days later. In Albany, they participated in a route march, where troops marched over a designated route, often through roads or tracks. Promptly, the soldiers embarked from Albany to sail to Colombo, Sri Lanka and eventually reach the Western Front in Northern France. After a brief route march in Colombo, the Battalion was transported to Suez in Egypt. During the voyage, numerous soldiers contracted measles and venereal disease due to poor conditions. In terms of weaponry, he would likely have been equipped a Lee-Enfield Mark III rifle with a bayonet and a Mills bomb.

In the Imperial Force, Marshall was the rank of private, the lowest rank in the army; he remained as a private until the conclusion of his service. Two days later, Marshall’s battalion arrived in Suez and were transported to Port Said. Following, they voyaged for seven days to Marseille, France. Subsequently, the soldiers travelled to the Salisbury Plain, north of Southampton, England, where they trained at Larkhill Camp until their embarkation for France in November 1916. Marshall was placed in an infantry battalion, meaning that his training was specified for infantry combat. This included wiring, firing rifle grenades, firing the Lewis light machine gun, dealing with gas attacks, throwing hand grenades, bayonet usage and general routines in the trenches.

After crossing the channel, the battalion proceeded to Armentieres, on the Western Front, where they settled in the trenches. Allocated to A Company in his battalion, the private was a cook, preparing food for the rest of the company. Presumably, he supplied maconochie, a tinned stew comprised of potatoes, turnips, meats and carrots. In addition, other rations issued to the infantry on the Western front included hard biscuits, tea and bully beef. Between the 7th and 14th of June 1917, the battalion were involved in the decisive Battle of Messines. The ultimate goal of Messines was to push the German army from the primary battlefront in Messines in order to capture the crucial high-ground of Wyschaete-Messines Ridge, providing the Allies with a significant tactical advantage on the Western Front.

On the 26th May, Evan Marshall was detached from the battalion due his new assignment as a constituent of the military police, the corps responsible for policing and disciplinary duties in the army. He successively re-joined on the 15th, meaning he missed the fighting at Messines. Life in the trenches was horrific. Complications such as disease (dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever) and shell shock were rampant in trenches, causing mass casualties. On 31st July, the 43rd Infantry Battalion were positioned to attack the German Empire at the battle of Warneton, fighting on the left flank. Marshall received four wounds on the frontline, two of which were gunshot wounds that penetrated his shoulder. The wound was not very severe, and less than two weeks later he was sent to a convalescent hospital.

A week later, he was caught for mischievously abusing his pass to leisure in the nearby cities overstaying for 20 minutes. The Commanding Officer sought disciplinary action by confining him in the barracks for three days. After his confinement, the private was sent to the rest camp in Rouelles and returned back to his unit two weeks later. In October 1917, the Battalion was involved in the Third Battle of Ypres, a prominent British offensive in Flanders. The objective was to advance through fortified German defences in the Ypres salient. Evan Marshall was granted service leave in January 1918 after months on active duty, permitting him to travel back to England to recuperate from constant combat. Furthermore, he re-joined the battalion at the beginning of February.

 Near the end on the May, the battalion was moved to Bois l’Abbe. Marshall was gassed on 27th May. The battalion was again shifted, now to Bretonneux, near Amiens, where the private had gas wounds inflicted upon him. Two weeks subsequent, he was capable of returning to duty. Succeeding, during August, Marshall was transferred to infantry school for a month to obtain new combat skills. The conclusion of his education was a month before the armistice between the Allied and Central Powers was promulgated. Over the course of his service, he did not receive any distinguished medals, only obtaining the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

14th August 1919 marked the day that Evan Marshall was discharged from the Australian Imperial Force. In November, he ventured from France back to Southampton. Consequently, the soldier returned to Australia after embarking from Liverpool. As a result of an accident, Private Evan Marshall passed away on the 1st of September 1939 at Parafield. The story of Evan Marshall, in addition to all the soldiers who fought in the Great War, shall be celebrated and remembered for years to come.