Summary

Alternative Name(s): Memorial Scroll

Commemorative scroll for Sapper Alfred Galbraith, 5th Division Signal Company, AIF; letter and envelope from AIF Base Records Office, Victoria Barracks, postmarked 1921.

The letter from the Base Records Office was sent separately with a receipt slip to be returned to the AIF when the scroll arrived.

Born in Maryborough, Sapper Alfred George Finlay Galbraith was the son of Alfred and Amy C. Galbraith, of W.R. Institute, Flinders Street, Station Buildings, Melbourne. He trained as an electrical engineer and enlisted in the Australian Army at the age of 20, in July 1915. His father gave written permission for him to join 'the Military Forces to serve the Empire abroad'. Galbraith served in the 5th Division Signalling Company, Australian Engineers, AIF, embarking from Melbourne on 23 November 1915 on the 'Ceramic'. He went to Egypt for further training, then was shipped to France, disembarking 27 June 1916 at Marseilles. Less than three weeks later, on 15 July, he received a wound in the thigh and a 'penetrating wound in the neck'. He died the same day at the 8th Australian Field Ambulance.

Physical Description

The memorial scroll is headed by a Royal Crest, partially coloured, with GV RI at the top and the slogan 'Dieu et mon Droit' at its base. The wording reads: 'He whom this scroll commemorates was numbered among those who, at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger, and finally passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice, giving up their own lives so that others might live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten.'

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