Walter Mansfield Gay (SN 1660) attended the Mt. Pleasant State School before becoming a miner. He was 34 years of age, married to Emily, when he enlisted on March 3rd 1916. He trained with the 14th Depot Battalion in Ballarat before embarking for overseas service aboard the Port Lincoln on May 4th. After some further training in England he joined the 58th Battalion in France in December 1916. In July 1917 trench fever and tonsillitis caused his evacuation to hospital in England and he was only able to rejoin his unit in France just two weeks before the Armistice was signed. He returned to Australia on the Port Melbourne and reached Melbourne on August 20th 1919.