Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Trumpeter Arthur Leonard Birchett, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, 'B' Squadron, was born in Hackney, England to John and Ellen Birchett. He was aged 16 when he arrived in Australia and served with the Australian Light Horse in New South Wales for 20 months and also served for 12 months with the 24th Light Horse (Flinders / South Australia) where he was still serving at time of AIF enlistment.
He enlisted in Port Pirie, South Australia, on the 27th August 1914 where he was engaged as an Engineer in the Port Pirie Smelters and embarked on HMAT 'Port Lincoln' A17 on the 22nd October 1914 with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.
On the 28th May 1915 Arthur was seriously wounded in action with a gunshot wound to the neck, in Monash Valley, Gallipoli.
Monash Valley, was so named after the Colonel whose headquarters were established near the head of the valley, opposite the foot of Steele's Post. The elevated view of the valley in the attached photo shows the zig-zag paths created by Australian infantry up the steep ridge at right. Small walls were built in the centre of Monash Valley to provide protection against enemy sniper fire. Monash Valley was the most critical part of the Anzac position, a position that the Turks never broke through.

Colonel J. Monash, in command of the 4th Infantry Brigade writes a week before Arthur’s death…

“Apart from many things which cannot be written about yet, the thing above all others which stands out uppermost in the terrible fighting, which has been incessant since our landing on April 25, is the magnificence of our Australian troops. Throughout the whole of the fighting there has never been a murmur of complaint, in spite of the hardships and privations and continuous hours and hours of toil and deafening clamour. There have been scenes of awful slaughter with heaps of dead and wounded and ghastly wounds, and long lines of stretcher-bearers with their gory burdens, but men march cheerily past, and take up positions for attack or defence with the certain knowledge that many of them will share the same fate.”

Arthur died of wounds at sea aboard HMHS Newmarket and was buried at sea. He is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey. The Memorial commemorates the 3268 Australians and 456 New Zealanders who have no known grave and the 960 Australians and 252 New Zealanders who were buried at sea after evacuation through wounds or disease. He is also commemorated on the World War 1 Gates in Port Pirie, South Australia – where, unfortunately, his name was spelled incorrectly. (Birchell A.L.)

Sources:
State Library of South Australia
Australian War Memorial
National Archives of Australia.
Trove Australia