Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

In times of war and extreme violence the value of a human life loses its moral meaning, often diminishing down to merely a number, a statistic. Every life lost during World War 1 marked the end of a unique and personalised story which held its own memories, history and experiences. It is a moral duty to remember and acknowledge soldiers who sacrificed their lives as they knew it to protect humanity and produce the world that we live in today.

Australia played an extremely significant and memorable role in World War One. Australia’s soldiers in particular were remembered for their genuine, laid-back yet devoted demeanours, qualities which dawned upon the Anzac spirit. Among these soldiers was a young man named John Joseph White, a former student of Sydney Technical High School. The proceeding story of White proves that the perfect soldiers were not necessarily the most impactful ones. The most impactful soldiers were in fact the soldiers who were brave and devout, and were willing to risk it all in order to fight for their cause.

John Joseph White was born on the 30th of October, 1896 in Rozelle, situated in Sydney’s inner west. He was born into a Presbyterian family to his father, John F. White, and his mother, May White. White went to Sydney Technical High School, at the time known simply as Technical High School, succeeding through several of his studies and went on to pursue the field of Architecture after completing his final year of schooling.[i] Architecture was a popular field to pursue coming from the Technical High School, as the school was a particularly technology-based institution. On the 4th of February 1915 at the age of eighteen, White enlisted to the join the Australian Imperial Force and was accepted as he fit all medical and physical criteria[ii].

White was placed in the 17th Infantry Battalion as a Private and his recorded service number was 1197[iii]. His unit embarked from Sydney on the Transport A32 Themistocles on the 12th of May 1915 and headed to Egypt where the crew underwent infantry training. After initial training at Egypt, his unit embarked upon Anzac Cove and landed on the 20th of August 1915, where it participated in its first military engagement; the August Offensive against the Ottoman Empire.[iv] White however was sent back home to Sydney directly from Suez, Egypt, via the HMAS Port Lincoln to be treated for a venereal disease. He disembarked at Melbourne on the 2nd of September 1916 and received medical attention at hospital.[v] White’s medical records indicate that he revisited several hospitals for a variety of medical conditions over the next few months away from service.

 According to the official List of Forfeitures Recorded in Connection with J.J. White of the 46th Battalion, while away from active service between September of 1916 to February of 1917, White committed several offences through the disobeying of various guidelines and protocols. Some of his unwarranted behaviour included being unshaven on parade, and absent from parade, each offence resulting in the forfeiture of one day’s pay. White also committed the offence of being absent for 14 days without official permission and signing false documents to secure himself a complementary railway ticket. This resulted in a disciplinary incurment of 23 days detention and forfeiture of 38 working day’s pay.[vi] As the title of the document reveals, White transferred from the 17th Infantry Battalion to the 46th Infantry Battalion and within his new unit, White was bestowed upon the rank of Corporal.

The 46th Infantry Battalion was an indispensable unit in World War One as it took part in many major battles and operations including the First Battle of Bullecourt and the Western Front.[vii] The Western Front was the theatre of irrefutably the most traumatising and soul-obliterating violence and bloodshed that occurred in the entirety of World War One. Historian Craig Deayton describes the Western Front as bearing nothing but “mud, blood and tragedy and the extreme experience.”[viii] The following article published in the newspaper, The Commonwealth Gazette, in 1919 exposes the utmost courage and gallantry of Mr White while he was deployed in the Western Front through recounting his actions during battle: “During an enemy attack he went out through frontal and flank machine gun fire to reconnoitre some dead ground. When the attack was driven off he went out with some bombs to deal with some enemies who were digging in about 150 yards away. He met ten, killing some with bombs and shooting two. When he ran out of bombs he used enemy stick bombs, which he took from the dead. He brought one N.C.O. back with him as prisoner.”[ix] White survived this extremity which highlights his qualities as a soldier, qualities of judgement and qualities of heroism. For this particular feat, White received a Distinguished Conduct Medal which is an extremely exclusive award handed out only under restricted conditions and criteria, second only to the Victoria Cross.[x]

White returned to Australia on the 18th of December, 1918, on the HMAS Aenaes.[xi] The Western Front was White’s last deployment on the battlefield of World War One, as global conflicts finally resolved. White likely experienced episodes of post-traumatic stress syndrome for the remainder of his life as the wartime experience from the Western Front was the most brutal of them all. He risked it all to serve the country and people that he believed in. John Joseph White came back a changed man after the war, but his sacrifice was not in vain as he is remembered today.

Eric Napper

Year 10 - Sydney Technical High School

[i] John Joseph WHITE, UNSW AIF Project
[ii] WHITE John Joseph - Certificate of Medical Examination, 01/02/1915.
[iii] Attestation Paper for Persons Enlisted for service abroad, 04/02/1915
[iv] Australian 17th Infantry Battalion, Australian War memorial
[v] War Gratuity Schedule 2W 84/22, 03/08/15
[vi] List of Forfeitures Recorded in Connection with No. 1890 CPL J.J. White of the 46th Battalion, 02/03/1917
[vii] 46th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian War Memorial
[viii] C Deayton, True history of World War I lost on Australian students, Tasmanian historian says, ABC News, Hobart, 2016
[ix] The Commonwealth Gazette – No. 15, 1894-1919

 
[x] Distinguished Conduct Medal, Australian War Memorial
[xi] op. cit. John Joseph WHITE, UNSW AIF Project

Bibliography:

John Joseph WHITE, UNSW AIF Project, accessed 10/08/2018 at https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=321244

17th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian War Memorial, accessed 12/08/2018 at https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51457

46th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian War Memorial, accessed 12/08/2018 at https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51486

C Deayton. 2016, True history of World War I lost on Australian students, ABC News, Hobart, accessed 12/08/2018 at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-21/true-history-of-wwi-i-lost-on-australians-historian-says/7337454

List of Forfeitures Recorded in Connection with No. 1890 CPL J.J. White of the 46th Battalion, 02/03/1917