Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

JOHN MACKENZIE GAULT 

John Mackenzie Gault was born in Lossiemouth on the 2nd of September 1901 to a rich fishing family, his father was a rich fisherman and his mother was a lady of noble descent. He lived most of his early life in Lossiemouth Scotland where he had 3 of his 6 daughters. In 1916 he enlisted in the Royal Navy where he was sent to the HMS VIVID navy barracks/base in Devonport England. after WW1, he spent his time in the family business of fishing. He moved to Sydney in 1927 with his wife Annie and his first 3 daughters. he remained a commercial fisherman supporting his family through the depression when he had his 4th daughter Connie who married harry heslop a leading aircraftsman who was in the 58 operational base unit in WW2. When war was declared John enlisted on the 16th of July 1940 in the RAN as he had 24 years before but in England. his first ship was the HMAS Goonabee his second was the HMAS Leilani a patrol boat part of the Hollywood fleet a bunch of yachts/private boats requisitioned by the RAN. The Leilani was in Sydney Harbour on the night of the attack by Japanese submarines but John Gault and his crew were on leave. He is mentioned on the Leilani's Wiki page, He was then put on the HMAS KOOKABURRA as second in command. He did multiple patrol duties/minesweeping duties with his ships around Papua New Guinea which entitled him to the 1939-45 Star and the Pacific Star. After WW2 he remained in the RANR for 4 years doing patrols and peacekeeping activities around Papua New Guinea he spent 12 years of his life in the navy both WW1 and WW2. After being discharged in 1949 he worked at the Balmain power station for about 20 years as an engineer of some sort. after retirement, he remained in Sydney for the remainder of his life. He died at age 88 meeting most of his great-grandchildren and outliving his wife by 9 years. The medals he was entitled to were the following, British war medal-victory medal-1939-1945 star-pacific star-war medal 39-45-Australian service medal 1939-1945-Australian Service Medal 1945–1975 with PNG clasp