Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Nels Hoken SJOSTROM joined 5th July 1916 in Adelaide, South Australia at 18 years of age. His occupation at the time of enlistment was labourer although a letter from Nels dated 11th August 1921 states he was actually an apprentice Fitter and Turner before enlistment and that he had provided a false declaration with regards to his “Labourer” vocation “due to being so young and ambitious to get to the front.”.

SJOSTROM Nels Hoken : Service Number - 2669 : Place of Birth - Port Pirie SA : Place of Enlistment - Adelaide SA : Next of Kin - (Sister) CLEMENS Helen
Previous Service.
4 years in Senior Cadets 81c before transferring to 81st Infantry Citizens Forces – still serving upon enlistment.

Statement of Service.
Initially attached to the 5th Pioneers Battalion 5th Reinforcements.
Embarked in Adelaide aboard HMAT (Her Majesty’s Australian Transport Ship) “Commonwealth” A73 on 21st September 1916 disembarked Plymouth England 14th November 1916.
Proceeded to France from Folkestone, Kent, England on the 31st December 1916 aboard the “Princess Victoria”.
Folkestone was an important port in the First World War with approximately 10 million troops and others, including nurses, passing through the harbour. Some were troops embarking to serve on the Western Front and others were troops returning home because they had leave or were wounded.

Nels was T.O.S.(taken on strength) from the 5th Pioneers Battalion 5th Reinforcements to the 2nd Australian General Hospital in Étaples, France on 31st March 1917. A notation mentions (Under Age Personnel) on Nels’ record when this took place?

The Étaples Army Base Camp, the largest of its kind ever established overseas by the British, was built along the railway adjacent to the town. It was served by a network of railways, canals, and roads connecting the camp to the southern and eastern fields of battle in France and to ships carrying troops, supplies, guns, equipment, and thousands of men and women across the English Channel. It was a base for British, Canadian, Scottish and Australian forces.

The camp was a training base, a depot for supplies, a detention centre for prisoners, and a centre for the treatment of the sick and wounded, with almost twenty general hospitals. At its peak, the camp housed over 100,000 people; altogether, it's hospitals could treat 22,000 patients.

It had a vast conglomeration of the wounded, of prisoners, of soldiers training for battle, and of those simply waiting to return to the front.

On the 5th September 1917 Nels was ‘Struck off Strength’ and transferred to the Australian General Base Depot in Le Havre, France. Australian soldiers arriving in France, whether reinforcements or “casuals” (those returning from hospitals), went to Base Depots before deployment to the front. All drafts, although they had already passed in England as fully trained, were subjected to further tests, a strict medical check, and at least ten days of additional training here.
Originally built in Etaples, France, the Australian General Base Depots moved to Harfleur, near Le Havre, in June 1917, in order to save shipping time. Base Depots were built for each Division, and the General Base Depot was used for those not assigned to divisions (excluding infantry and pioneers).

On 20th September 1917 Nels was ‘Taken on Strength’ back to the field in France with the 5th Pioneers Battalion. He was given 16 days leave to the UK in February 1918 before admission to hospital with Bronchitis from the 12th April 1918 until 25th May 1918 when he transferred back to the Australian General Base Depot Harfleur, near Le Havre, France.

Nels re-joined the 5th Pioneers Battalion on 7th June 1918 until he was granted leave to England from the 20th December 1918 until the 3rd January 1919.

He was attached to the 3rd Australian Motor Transport Company from 9th December 1918 until 21st March 1919 in Le Chateau, France before proceeding to England to demobilise.
He returned to Australia from England were he embarked on the 6th October 1919 arriving home on the 21st November 1919 aboard the Steamship SS Pakeha; one of 45 steamships that carried A.I.F. troops.