Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
Lewis Anderson, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, was a seaman by trade and when in Sydney he lived with his uncle at 12 Susan Street, Auburn. Anderson was a member of the Court of Pride Auburn, Ancient Order of Foresters and he is the only Auburn Memorial man to have enlisted in Auburn, signing up on 2 March 1916 at a recruitment drive in Auburn Town Hall.
On enlistment Lewis nominated his mother in Aberdeen, Scotland as his next-of-kin. Lewis Anderson embarked on the Wiltshire on 22 August 1916 with fellow Auburn Memorial men Arthur Sheppard, John Arnot, Samuel Grindrod and Robert Lamb, all of whom had been in training camps in Australia for at least five months.
The Wiltshire reached Plymouth UK on 13 October 1916. After further training on the Salisbury Plain, Anderson crossed to France and marched into the 13th Battalion on 23 December 1916. He was killed in action on 4 February 1917 at age 24. Anderson’s body was never found so his name was inscribed on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.
Throughout the bitterly cold northern winter of 1916-1917, Australian forces were billeted in Northern France near the villages of Le Sars, Flers and Gueudecourt, just south of the major town of Bapaume. Even in such cold conditions when major attacks were impossible, a low level of random deaths continued caused by sniper fire, random artillery barrages, accidents, disease, gas attacks and minor skirmishes. Five Auburn Memorial men, including Private Lewis Anderson, died in this ‘inactive’ period. None were Gallipoli veterans, nor did any have any battle experience. Each had taken eight months to a year to reach the Front but had been killed within weeks, or even days of arrival in the war zone.
Confirming that Louis Anderson was single and that his father was deceased, the Australian authorities issued Anderson’s medals to his mother in Scotland, rather than to his uncle in Auburn, as his mother was the next in line in the primogeniture system.
Louis Anderson is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal
- 1914-20 Victory Medal
