1885 – 1917
Walter George Aldridge was the first child of Walter John and Sarah Ann (nee Ford), born in the autumn of 1885, in Northview Cottages, Kings Road, Silchester. They subsequently had four more sons and two daughters. Of the five boys, four (Walter, Robert, Archie and Arthur) served in the Great War.
Before the war, all of them, along with their father Walter senior, worked in the family sawmill business, based at the end of Soke Road (now Easter Park), as well as in Hartley Wintney. They travelled all over the south of England, felling timber, driving traction and stationary engines, powering saws and other equipment.
Walter and Arthur both signed up and joined the Hampshire Territorials in September 1914, and Walter was assigned to the 2/5th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, initially on Salisbury Plain, moving to Lyndhurst in October. The 2/5th was a “second line” unit and in December 1914 they sailed from Southampton to Bombay, arriving there on 4th January 1915, to cover for regular troops being shipped to the war in Europe.
However, in March 1917 they were dispatched to Egypt, landing in Ismailia, along the Suez Canal halfway between Suez and Port Said, on 5th April. Here they joined the Egypt Expeditionary Force (EEF) as part of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign to preserve the security of Egypt, India and the Persian Gulf by seizing the south of Palestine and then capturing Jerusalem from the Ottoman Turks.
There was stalemate, it taking the EEF eight months to capture Gaza, with the troops enduring terrible conditions. From Gaza, they began to advance north eastwards towards Junction Station, where the railways from Jerusalem and Beersheba met. The aim was to split the Turkish forces in two.
It was during this action the Acting Corporal Walter Aldridge was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal: “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. During an attack, being sentWalter’s DCM out on an advanced patrol to cover the consolidation, he came under heavy rifle fire, but proceeded forward to ascertain whether the troops in front were friendly or hostile.
Having discovered these troops were hostile, he opened fire and enabled his party to advance to its objective. His fine action was a splendid example of coolness under difficult circumstances.”
It was in the continuing battle for Junction Station that Walter was killed on 13th November 1917. He is remembered and commemorated on the memorial in the Jerusalem War Cemetery, along with 2,436 others.
Walter still has a great niece and nephew living in or near the village – Julie Baldock and her brother David Aldridge.