John Valentine NEEDHAM MID

NEEDHAM, John Valentine

Service Number: Officer
Enlisted: 6 November 1914
Last Rank: Captain
Last Unit: 2nd Pioneer Battalion
Born: Melbourne Victoria Australia , 5 February 1882
Home Town: Richmond (V), Yarra, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Optician
Died: War Service - alcoholic induced insanity, 16th Australian General Hospital Military Mental Asylum (Mont Park), 4 July 1922, aged 40 years
Cemetery: Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton
Official commemoration plaque moved to the Gardens of Rememberance (2nd extention) Sprringvale, Victoria.
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World War 1 Service

6 Nov 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, 24th Infantry Battalion
10 May 1915: Embarked Lieutenant, 24th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Melbourne
10 May 1915: Involvement Lieutenant, 24th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: ''
27 Aug 1915: Promoted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 24th Infantry Battalion
4 Mar 1916: Transferred AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 2nd Pioneer Battalion
26 Apr 1916: Promoted AIF WW1, Captain, 2nd Pioneer Battalion
1 Aug 1916: Wounded AIF WW1, Captain, 2nd Pioneer Battalion, Battle for Pozières , Shell shock
29 Jun 1917: Honoured Mention in Dispatches, Battle for Pozières , Awarded, and promulgated, 'London Gazette', second Supplement, No. 29890 (2 January 1917); 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 103 (29 June 1917). Initially recommended for MC
16 Oct 1917: Wounded AIF WW1, Captain, 2nd Pioneer Battalion, 1st Passchendaele, Remained on duty, Shell shock
1 Nov 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, Captain, 2nd Pioneer Battalion

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Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From How We Served

The final resting place for;- Captain John Valentine Needham of Richmond, Victoria had been an optometrist at the time of his enlistment for War Service on the 6th of Novemeber 1914. John was a Boer War veteran having served in South Africa with the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles and was allocated to the 24th Battalion, 1st AIF. Applying for an Officer's Commission, John was promoted to Second Lieutenant on the 7th of May 1915 and embarked for Egypt and further training on the 10th of May.

Having been again promoted on the 27th of August, John now a full Lieutenant, landed on Gallipoli at the end of August and remained on the Peninsula until the general evacuation. John returned to Egypt on the 10th of Janurary 1916 and was transferred over to the 2nd Pioneer Battalion on the 4th of March 1916. His Unit was shipped to France and arrived on the 26th of March and by 26th of April he was promoted to Captain. On the 1st of August John was wounded in action, suffering shell shock, but remained on duty, and following contracting scabies, he was sent back to England to recover on the 9th of October.

John was placed before a medical board, and was offered a return to Australia which he knocked back and instead he opted to rejoin his Unit in France, arriving back on the 26th of December 1916. Captain Needham was sent back to England where he was attached to the Pioneer Training Battalion from March until June 1917, before returning back to France on the 16th of June 1917.For a short time, John was detatched to serve with the 7th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery and on the 16th of October 1917 whilst serving in Belgium, John was again to suffer from shell shock, and again remained on duty. During October 1918, John was hospitalised due to defective vision, but rejoined his Unit in France for the last month of the War.

For his services in France and Belgium, John was Mentioned in Despatches on two occasions. John arrived back in England in Janurary 1919, and by the 9th of March he was embarked for his return to Australia. Whilst on his way back, John suffered a psychological breakdown, and following his arrival was admitted into the 5th Australian General Hospital (Melbourne), and later the 11th Australian General Hospital (Caulfield), before being transferred to the 16th Australian General Hospital Military Mental Asylum (Mont Park) on the 31st of Janurary 1920 where he was diagnosed as suffering from alcoholic induced insanity

There was no recovery in John's breakdown and he died whilst still in residence of the asylum on the 4th of July 1922. Captain Needham's death was cited as directly due to his War service with the 1st AIF, and he was availed an official CWGC headstone when he was interred within Melbourne General Cemetery, Victoria.

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