 Despite his wife 's disapproval , Statton enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 29 February 1916 , and was allotted to the newly raised 40th Battalion as a private . Appointed lance corporal on 22 May , Statton embarked from Hobart aboard HMAT Berrima on 1 July , bound for England . The troopship disembarked at Devonport a little over seven weeks later , where the 40th Battalion spent the next three months training . 
