Not Forgotten. 3705 Private Joseph Herbert Anderson, 11 Battalion AIF, World War 1

Private Joseph Anderson, a farmer at Koomberkine, was born in Kaniva in Victoria, the son of Margaret
Sarah Anderson and the late Robert Anderson of Dowerin and brother of Leslie Anderson who died in
France in April 1918. The boys’ father had died in 1900. On 16 August 1915, prior to the other three
Andersons enlisting in April 1916, at the age of 24 Private Joseph Anderson enlisted in Perth and was
placed in the 11th Battalion. This was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First
World War and was the first battalion recruited in Western Australia, forming part of the 3rd Brigade.
The 11th Battalion served at Anzac until the evacuation in December.

After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the 11th Battalion returned to Egypt. It was split to help form the
51st Battalion, and then brought up to strength with reinforcements. Private Joseph Anderson
embarked at Fremantle on H.M.A.T. Mongolia on 22 November 1915 and joined the 11th Battalion in
Egypt. On 5 February 1916 Joseph Anderson was admitted to the 1st Australian General Hospital in
Heliopolis with pneumonia and his mother was notified by telegram of his illness. On 26 February he
was transferred to the Convalescent Depot and discharged to duty on 10 March 1916, rejoining the 11th
Battalion at Serapeum on 24 March. Private Anderson then went with the 11th Battalion from
Alexandria to Marseilles via H.M.T. Corsican in late March 1916 when the battalion headed for the
Western Front.

From that time until 1918, the battalion took part in bloody trench warfare. Its first major action in
France was at Pozières in the Somme Valley in July. On 21 July 1916 Private Joseph Anderson sustained
a gunshot wound to his left buttock and died of his wounds on that day at the 2nd South Midland Field
Ambulance 5 miles west of Albert. He was buried at the Military Cemetery at Warloy-Baillon, an
extension of the Community Cemetery with Rev. H Maude-Roxby officiating.

Mrs. Margaret Anderson submitted personal inscriptions for the headstones of her two sons to the War
Graves Commission. The one for Leslie Anderson read:
“He gave his life for his country
For honor, faith and right
He fought a noble fight.”

And for Joseph:
“Never the lotus closes, never the wild fowl wake,
But a soul goes out on the East Wind,
That died for Britain’s sake.”

She was told that both inscriptions contained more than the permitted 66 letters and spaces, each space
counting as a letter and that, if she did not wish to abbreviate the inscriptions, could she kindly choose
shorter ones. Private Joseph Anderson was awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the
Victory Medal.