GUTHRIE, Ivan
| Service Number: | 6125 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 March 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1) |
| Born: | Wedderburn, Victoria, Australia, 1897 |
| Home Town: | Newlands, Donnybrook-Balingup, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Sleeper Hewer |
| Died: | Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia, 18 September 1976, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Bunbury General Cemetery, Bunbury, Western Australia Bunbury Cemetery Lawn section A grave 410 |
| Memorials: | Brookhampton Thomsons Brook Shire Memorial, Donnybrook Preston Road Board, Kirup War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 15 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 6125, 16th (WA) Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 6125, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Miltiades embarkation_ship_number: A28 public_note: '' | |
| 7 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 6125, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), HMAT Miltiades, Fremantle |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Ian Jackson
Ivan Guthrie, Private 6125, 16th Battalion, Australian Infantry, Australian Imperial Force, born in Wedderburn, Victoria, Australia, 1897. He enlisted in the 16th Battalion AIF on 15th March 1916 at Blackboy Hill, Western Australia.
Private Ivan Guthrie was wounded for the first time on the 11th April 1917 at Bullecourt, a battle where the ferocity and brutality of trench warfare was unsurpassed in the Great War.
He missed the Third Battle of Ypres while recovering from his wounds in England but took part in his battalion’s remaining operations through to the end of the war including: Hebuterne, Hamel, Battle of Amiens and Hindenburg Line.
He was wounded for the second time at Mericourt on the 8th August 1918 . By this time, even though he had just turned twenty-one, he was already a seasoned veteran having served with the 16th Battalion on the Western Front since December 1916.
Without doubt, the savagery of Bullecourt and other battles deeply affected him. However, according to those closest to him, it was his experience at Mericourt, as part of his battalion's tank vanguard at the Battle of Armiens, that was his most traumatic. For nearly a decade after the war he was haunted by the same recurring nightmare of the time his overcrowded tank was hit by a shell killing the man sitting on his shoulders.
After the war he and his wife Kathleen went on to lead a happy and productive life in Western Australia. He became a successful building contractor and they had three children: Douglas, Vernon and Bernice.
When asked by his by his seven year old grandson how he was able to go into battle knowing that there was a real possibility that he might be killed. He replied "We were all determined to do our best."
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