Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

# 4782 FITZGERALD James                                         49th Battalion
 
James Fitzgerald was born in Dalby to parents Michael and Norah Fitzgerald in 1897. The Fitzgerald family moved to Toogoolawah, where they had relatives, and young James was apprenticed to Warner and Spencer Butchers for three years. Having completed his apprenticeship, James went back to Dalby to work as a butcher.
 
On 13th September 1915, James presented himself for enlistment at Enoggera Camp. James advised the recruiting officer he was 20 years old, a butcher from Dalby. He nominated his mother, Norah of Toogoolawah as his next of kin. A few days after James enlisted, his cousin, Daniel Fitzgerald from Esk also enlisted. The two young men were placed in the same depot battalion and were then allocated to the 15threinforcements for the 9th Battalion. The reinforcements embarked in Brisbane on the “Commonwealth.” The embarkation roll shows William and Daniel with successive regimental numbers.
 
When the “Commonwealth” docked at Suez, the reinforcements proceeded to the AIF depot at Tel el Kabir. The AIF at that time was going through a period of expansion and new battalions were being raised with a core of Gallipoli veterans supplemented with reinforcements from Australia. The process was well advanced by the time James and Daniel arrived in Egypt and being excess to requirements, they remained at Tel el Kabir. On 29th July 1916, the last of the reinforcements in Egypt embarked at Alexandria for a voyage to England.
 
Upon arrival at Southampton, the reinforcements were marched out to the 3rd Brigade Training Battalion at Perham Downs on Salisbury Plain. The four divisions of the AIF on the Western Front had taken a severe beating during the Somme campaign of July, August and September suffering 23,000 killed, wounded or missing. To recover, the AIF was withdrawn from the fighting and went into rest camps in Belgium. James was given orders to proceed to the British Depot and Transit Camp at Etaples on 8th October 1917. Whilst awaiting further movement, James was transferred to the 49th Battalion which he joined on 20th October.
 
The 49th Battalion made its way on foot from billets around Buire towards Bapaume, which was the new front line. The 49th went into the supports at Flers in early November and relieved another Australian battalion on 19th November, taking over front line positions. It had been raining almost non stop for three weeks as the 49th took up position in the firing line. The trenches and communication saps were almost thigh deep in mud making movement of large numbers of men almost impossible. An earlier attack by battalions of the 7th Brigade on 5th November had failed miserably and the troops posted to the front had no other task than to occupy the trenches while standing in freezing mud and endure German artillery barrages.
 
It was recorded that James Fitzgerald was killed in action on 26th November while occupying a trench. There is no record of his body being recovered and buried. James is one of 10,000 Australians who gave their lives in France but have no known grave. In 1938, some 20 years after the end of the First World War, the Australian Government constructed the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux on the Somme battlefields. The memorial was dedicated by the newly crowned King George VI and records the names of over 10,000 Australian soldiers who lost their lives in France and have no known grave; James Fitzgerald among them.
 
James’ cousin Daniel Fitzgerald was not a good soldier and he faced two Courts Martial during his service before returning to Australia. James’ elder brother William also served and survived the war.