Interpretive & Wayfinding

Corporal
Alexander S. Burton VC
Victoria Cross
For most conspicuous bravery at Lone Pine trenches
in the Gallipoli Peninsula on the 9th of August, 1915. In
the early morning the enemy made a determined
counter-attack on the centre of the newly captured trench
held by the Lieutenant Tubb, Corporals Burton and
Dunstan and a few men. They advanced up a sap and blew
in a sandbag barricade, leaving only a 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. 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.
• Alexander Burton was born on the 20th January, 1893 in Kyeton, Victoria.
• His family moved to Euroa where he attended a state school and later followed his father
working as an ironmonger.
• On the 18th of August, 1914 Burton aged 21, enlisted for the 7th Battalion and sailed for
Egypt in October. His Battalion landed at Anzac Cove at the Gallipoli Peninsula on the 25th
of April, 1915.
• Burton watched the landing from a hospital ship as he was suffering a throat infection, but a
week later he was in the trenches.
• Under the command of Lieutenant F.H. Tubb, Corporals Burton and Dunstan had bravely
captured a Turkish trench early in August at Lone Pine and held this important position.
• Burton was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions on the 9th of August, 1915
during which he was killed. He has no known grave.
Source: London Gazette 15th October 1915
... a bonny boy [who] always did what he was told. With his quiet smile he
was always there ... Just before he died he looked at me, smiled quietly, and was
then killed. His was a fine death and I almost wished I had died too.
- Frederick Tubb, Commanding Officer
an artist's
impression of
Burton’s Tubb’s
and Dunston’
actions at the
Battle of Lone
Pine on the 9th
of August 1915.
No known Copyright restrictions. Source of images: Australian War Memorial Collection
26 www.barriersigns.com.au