20/02/1915- Completed Medical Examination Bridgetown WA
26/02/1915- To 9 Depot Company Blackboy Hill as Private
16/03/1915- To ” A ” Company 28th Battalion Blackboy Hill
9/06/1915- Embarked Fremantle WA aboard ” Ascanius ” bound for Egypt
1/07/1915- Disembarked Alexandria ex Australia to Overseas Training Base
4/09/1915- Embarked Alexandria with Mediterranean Expeditionary Forces bound for Gallipoli Peninsula
10/01/1916- Disembarked Alexandria ex Mudros Gallipoli Peninsula
16/03/1916- Embarked Alexandria with British Expeditionary Forces bound for Marseilles France
21/03/1916- Disembarked Marseilles
29/07/1916- Reported Wounded & Missing in Action France
4/01/1917- Court of Enquiry found LYDEN to have been Killed in Action at Pozieres France.
DETAILS OF SOLDIER’S DEATH
Reference :- 79- HALL, Pte. J- ” A ” Company – ” He was listed as missing at Battalion Headquarters after July 25 at Pozieres. Sergeant HAINES saw him badly wounded in a shell hole at dawn on July 26th. HAINES wanted to bring him back but he was too bad to be moved. HAINES left a couple of water bottles with him and came back to our lines. That is the last known of him. He was lying in ” No Man’s Land ” and must have died. He was a mate of mine, and I made many enquiries. He came from the South West of Western Australia. We knew him as ” The South Sea Islander”. His parents live on one of the Islands in the Pacific “.
Informant:- 54- DEVINE, Pte. M.J- 28th Battalion – ” On July 29 1916 at Pozieres when we had started to advance , under bombardment, there was a mix-up in the Company. We had advanced about 4oo yards and I was in a shell hole about 1.00a.m. near the wire entanglements , when LYDEN got wounded and rolled down into the shell hole. He was very badly wounded in the chest ( I think from Machine Gun fire ) and I tried together with Corporal HAINES to dress his wounds, but we could not do much, and we had to leave him. I do not think he would have lived. We had to retire afterwards “.
Reference :- Bunbury soldier BLAIR. J.T – ” Walter LYDEN came from one of the South Sea Islands and was of Welsh extraction. About 5 feet 6 inches in height and spoke with a slightly Welsh accent. A few hours before we attacked he showed me a photograph of a young Welsh lady whom he was much attached to, and I know took this into battle. LYDEN lived near Bridgetown, Western Australia “.
SERVICE MEDALS AWARDED
British War Medal – No. 13845
Victory Medal – No. 13786
Memorial Plaque/Scroll – No. 313893.
MEMORIAL INSCRIPTIONS
Australian War Memorial Canberra ACT – Panel No. 113
Villers Brettoneux Memorial France.