Navy veteran finds God – at 91

Ken Walton has many photos and stories to tell from the war. 180119_02 Pictures: KYRA GILLESPIE

By Kyra Gillespie

War veteran Ken Walton decided to “get his spiritual life sorted” by getting baptised at the ripe age of 91.

The 91-year-old veteran is just shy of being the oldest person in history to get baptised, being beaten a mere few years by American man Clarence Raymond Kannheiser who was baptised at the age of 97 in 2009.

Mr Walton said the idea came upon discovering that his baptism records were destroyed during the London bombings.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d ever been baptised because all my family in England are dead and I’m an only child,” Mr Walton said.

“I tried to look up my records online, but they came up as incomplete because they were destroyed in the bombings.

“My mother and my grandparents were very religious so I’m pretty sure I was done. But there’s no way to find out; so I decided I should sort out my spiritual life and get done again.”

Mr Walton shared this idea with long-time friend John Durrant, who suggested they talk to his local Reverend, Matt Scheffer.

Not long afterwards, Mr Walton was baptised at St James Anglican Church, Pakenham with the support of family and friends.

“He’s certainly the oldest person I’ve ever baptised,” Reverend Scheffer said.

“Having grown up in the Church of England it is very likely that he was baptised, but not having records or family members to check with makes it hard.

“This was a way for Ken to put things right spiritually.

“On the occasion we got him to wear his war medals.”

Mr Walton has a fascinating war history, having served in the Royal Navy during WWII, and later the South African Navy and the New Zealand Navy.

“Not many people been in three navies and are as highly decorated as this man,” friend John Durrant said.

“Ken survived the war without his ships being hit, which was amazing because a lot of ships went down at that time.

“He was very lucky to get through the war unscathed. He was in the engine room, and of course if you got hit the engine room was the first to go.”

The Pakenham veteran has many stories from his time in the war.

“We were on patrol in the South Atlantic and a German aircraft was above us, circling round and round. Our skipper sent a message out to the aircraft, saying ‘Will you stop going round and round? You’re making us dizzy. Turn around and go the other way.’

“And sure enough, he turned around and went the other way.”

Mr Walton told this story with a laugh, despite the fact the aircraft was signalling to nearby German U-boats to circle in on them.

Mr Walton has a huge floor-to-ceiling wall covered in photographs in his home from his days in the war. He has stories about being in the navy during the occupation of Italy, and being on patrol off the coast of Belgium on D-Day, among many others.

But the story that gets him most animated is the one where he met and married his wife Fay, with whom he now boasts two children, five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

The couple met at the Melbourne Cup, and he proposed to Fay on St Kilda beach after dating awhile.

They were later married at a New Zealand navy base, despite opposition from Fay’s father.

“When I proposed I was more nervous of her father. I went over and asked if we could get married, and he said no,” Mr Walton said.

“Fay wrote to him and said she was going to get married, and wouldn’t come home until she did. She was underage at the time, because the legal age for marriage in New Zealand was 20.

“The New Zealand Navy ended up applying to the New Zealand Government to make Fay a ward of the state so we could be married, which was granted.

“Her father and I became great friends after that. When he died, his last words were, ‘is Ken here?’ He was one of the nicest blokes you could ever wish to meet.”

Mr Walton said after the war was over, he and Fay became good friends with their neighbour who used to be an officer in the German Navy.

“Two blokes who in the war were against one another were now having beer together. I was fighting for my country just like he was fighting for his.

“That’s the sad thing about the war – you were fighting against other brothers, sons and fathers just like yourself.”