Alexander Burton

He rebuilt the barricade while enemy bombs burst around him.

Alexander Stewart Burton was born on 20 January 1893 at Kyneton, Victoria, Australia. His parents were Alfred Edward and Isabella Burton. The family moved to Euroa, where he attended the local state school before working in the ironmongery department of A. Miller & Co. He also sang in the church choir and played in the town band.

Burton enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 18 August 1914 and joined the 7th Battalion as Private 384. He sailed from Melbourne aboard HMAT Hororata on 19 October for service overseas. A throat infection kept him aboard a hospital ship during the Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1915, but he joined his battalion in the trenches a week later. He became a lance corporal in July and subsequently a corporal.

During the Battle of Lone Pine, Australian troops had to defend newly captured Ottoman trenches against repeated counter-attacks. In the early morning of 9 August 1915, Burton fought beside Lieutenant Frederick Tubb and Corporal William Dunstan. When attacking troops destroyed their sandbag barricade, the three men repelled them and rebuilt it. They repeated the defence and repairs as further bombing attacks shattered the barrier. Burton was killed by a bomb while rebuilding the parapet. All three received the Victoria Cross, Burton posthumously.

Victoria Cross citation, London Gazette, 15 October 1915:

“For most conspicuous bravery at Lone Pine trenches in the Gallipoli Peninsula on the 9th August, 1915.

In the early morning the enemy made a determined counter-attack on the centre of the newly captured trench held by Lieutenant Tubb, Corporals Burton and Dunstan and a few men. They advanced up a sap and blew in a sandbag barricade, leaving only one foot of it standing, but Lieutenant Tubb with the two corporals repulsed the enemy and rebuilt the barricade. Supported by strong bombing parties the enemy twice again succeeded in blowing in the barricade, but on each occasion they were repulsed and the barricade rebuilt, although Lieutenant Tubb was wounded in the head and arm and Corporal Burton was killed by a bomb while most gallantly building up the parapet under a hail of bombs.”

Burton was 22 when he died. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli. An oak tree and bridge at Euroa also honour his memory. His Victoria Cross is preserved in the Australian War Memorial's collection.