John Samuel TALMAGE

TALMAGE, John Samuel

Service Number: 2905
Enlisted: 24 August 1914, Melbourne, Victoria and assigned to Divisional Ammunition Column No 3 Section intake.
Last Rank: Sergeant
Last Unit: 1st Divisional Ammunition Column
Born: Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia, 1875
Home Town: Brunswick, Moreland, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Post Office Linesman
Died: Murdered whilst a prisoner of the Japanese, Nago Island, New Ireland, New Guinea, 30 November 1942
Cemetery: Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea
Civilian War Dead
Memorials: Yapeen State School No. 1903 Great European War Roll of Honor
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World War 1 Service

24 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2905, Divisional Ammunition Column, Melbourne, Victoria and assigned to Divisional Ammunition Column No 3 Section intake.
20 Oct 1914: Involvement Gunner, 2905, Divisional Ammunition Column, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Shropshire embarkation_ship_number: A9 public_note: ''
20 Oct 1914: Embarked Gunner, 2905, Divisional Ammunition Column, HMAT Shropshire, Melbourne
31 Jan 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, Sergeant, 2905, 1st Divisional Ammunition Column, Demobbed at end of war

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Biography contributed by Dianne Black

Parents: - John Talmage and Agnes Sperin married 1873 in Geelong, Victoria.

Fate: - After the cessation of World War 1, John returned to Australia. Its seems at some point in time he moved to New Guinea and was employed as the manager of Tomalabat Plantation, Tatau Island. John was one of the Europeans rounded up by the Japanese from Tabar in the hunt for Con Page the Coastwatcher. John was executed at Nago Island on  30th November 1942 aged 67. He was one of 7 bodies identified of 13 recovered on Nago Island near Kavieng after the war  and was buried at the Bitapaka War Cemetery. (Rabaul War Cemetery and Memorial). The Japanese considered any European captured after the invasion was a potential "Coastwatcher" and executed for spying.

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