To commemorate 100 years since the Armistice, we would like to introduce you to 100 members of Caulfield RSL over the next 100 days
The Tilton Family
Jack Tilton enlisted on the 26 July 1915 the minute he turned 18. He was already a member of the militia serving as a gunner in the 22nd Battery Australian Field Artillery. So, on signing up he was posted to the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade. After service in Egypt the Brigade was transferred to the Western Front.
On the 15 April 1917 the Germans launched a counter-stroke in the Lagnicourt area at dawn on 15 April, utilising 23 battalions. Their aim was not to permanently recapture the territory, but merely to hold it for a day and capture or destroy all the equipment and supplies they found there. They rapidly occupied Lagnicourt and captured several batteries of the 1st Australian Division's artillery.
A vigorous counter-attack by four Australian battalions just after 7 am recaptured the village and most of the guns, and forced a premature German withdrawal. However, Jack and a number of others spent the rest of the war as POW’s at Wahn Lager in Germany. He returned to England on the 3/12/1918 and to Melbourne on the 25/4/1919. He soon joined Caulfield RSL and became a keen advocate for Soldiers’ rights. He served as Club President in 1931. He died in 1946.
His older sister Mabel (May) Tilton enlisted at the age of 31 on the 4 August 1915 in the Australian Army Nursing Service.The oldest of 13 children she had six years’ experience as a nurse.
On the 11 August she and a contingent of nurses from other states sailed on the troop ships. Regulations at the time only allowed single women to enlist. Serving initially with No 1 Australian General Hospital (1 AGH) in Egypt, she worked in a number of locations before moving to England in August 1916, then to France in March 1917. She remained there until the end of the war. At the time of her brother’s capture she was nursing wounded only 100 yards away. Such was the intensity of war.
As a nurse she asked the patients to give her a cap badge or button with their unit name on it, as a memento so she would remember them. Later these were mounted on a large frame and gifted to Caulfield RSL. It’s a memento we hold with pride.
After her return she operated the Prahran Baby Health Centre for 13 years. She wrote 'The Grey Battalion' and 'The Price of Peace' about her war experiences.
She never married and died in 1964 aged 80.
Lest we forget