WOODBRIDGE, John Michael Paul
| Service Number: | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 January 1915, Hughenden, Queensland and assigned to 15th Battalion, 5th Reinforcement. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 15th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Grenfell, New South Wales, Australia, 1891 |
| Home Town: | Grenfell, Weddin, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Shearer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Turkey, 8 August 1915 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Panel 50, Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Grenfell Great War Memorial, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Jan 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2007, 15th Infantry Battalion, Hughenden, Queensland and assigned to 15th Battalion, 5th Reinforcement. | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Apr 1915: | Involvement Private, 2007, 15th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Kyarra embarkation_ship_number: A55 public_note: '' | |
| 16 Apr 1915: | Embarked Private, 2007, 15th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Kyarra, Brisbane | |
| 8 Aug 1915: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 2007, 15th Infantry Battalion, Court of Enquiry convened on 6th April 1916, concluded, Private John Michael Paul Woodbridge was presumed to have been killed in action on 8th August 1915, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey. |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
John Michael Paul Woodbridge was born in Grenfell in 1891, one of three sons of Benjamin and Mary Ann Woodbridge who enlisted in World War One. John, or ‘Jack’ as he became known, and his older brother, Patrick, were working as shearers in northern Queensland; an older brother, William, was a boundary rider in the same area. The three brothers enlisted in Queensland within a few months of each other and embarked together from Brisbane in April 1915, all privates in the 15th Battalion and all landed at Gallipoli on 9 July 1915.
Jack fought at Gallipoli for just three weeks; on 8 August 1915 he was reported as wounded and missing in action.
One month later, on 9 September 1915 the Secretary of Defence sent the following telegram to Private Woodbridge’s father: “Regret Son Private JMP Woodbridge wounded between 7th and 8th August. Not reported seriously. No other particulars available. Will immediately advise anything further received.”
In late November 1915 Jack’s brother, Patrick, wrote a letter from Abbassia in Egypt to his sister Rose in Orange stating: “Bill or I don’t know where Jack is since the eight of August, he has been missing, he never came back after a charge on Sunday August the eight, but he might be in England but we can’t hear of him.”
Despite many enquiries and communications, nothing came to light as to Jack Woodbridge’s fate, and a court of enquiry dated 6 April 1916 declared Private Woodbridge to have been killed in action on 8 August 1915.
John’s brother William Isaac (‘Bill’) Woodbridge died of wounds inflicted at Pozieres on 14 August 1916, just over a year after John was killed in action. Patrick Benjamin (‘Paddy’) Woodbridge survived the war, returning to Australia in July 1919.
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