Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John was born on the 27th of January 1879 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA.

It would appear that that John arrived in Australia in 1908 when serving with the US Navy after the American ‘Great White Fleet’ arrived in Sydney where it appears he has ‘jumped ship’. He is recorded as arriving in South Australia in 1914.

John married Emily Margaret BOOTH on the 16th of  March 1916 at the YMCA Reading Room, Mitcham Camp SA. Emily already had a daughter Doreen from a previous marriage. There was one son to this marriage, Jack born in 1918.

John drowned in the Murray River at Renmark on the 25th of December 1925 aged 46. An article appeared in the Register newspaper on 28 December 1925 but naming him as SULLIVAN.

The Register (Adelaide) 28.12.1925

DROWNED IN THE MURRAY. RENMARK, Saturday.
John Sullivan, aged 48, a, deserter from the American fleet of 1908; and who arrived in South Australia in 1914 and served with the A.I.F. in Gallipoli and France, went down to the river with three mates about 11 a.m. yesterday. Apparentl,y they consumed liquor they had with them, and Sullivan then threw off coat and boots and challenged his mates to swim. He dived in and swam strongly for a while, but suddenly appeared to be in distress and called for a boat. A man who was on the other side of the river rowed over but Sullivan had disappeared. The police were telephoned for, and dragged all the afternoon for the body without result. The deceased mainly followed the occupation of a cook, but he had recently been employed on the Government Steamer Industry as a splicer.

Military

1st enlistment:
John STEPHENS enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne on 18 December 1914. He claimed he was born in Auckland, New Zealand and was a fireman by occupation. He was given service number 1585. He gave his next of kin as his father in Auckland NZ. He was posted to the 3rd reinforcements of the 6th Battalion however after training, he failed to embark at Melbourne on 19 February 1915 and was reported as a deserter. He is recorded in the nominal roll in Ron AUSTIN’s book ‘As rough as bags-history of the 6th Battalion 1st AIF’.

2nd enlistment:
On 18 January 1916, John STEPHENS has re-enlisted in the AIF in Adelaide and given service number 2774. He used the same details on the enlistment attestment papers but gave his next of kin as his sister Isabel GERSTLE of Melbourne. He later changed this to his wife Emily Margaret STEPHENS of Adelaide.

He was attached to the 6th Reinforcements of the 32nd Infantry Battalion and travelled with his battalion via Egypt to England. Arriving in France in August 1916, he was transferred to the 8th Machine Gun Company. The company spent the French winter manning the trenches. He is recorded as having been accidently injured (a badly twisted left knee) on 24 February 1917 at Trones Wood whilst on duty in an officer’s mess tent. He was evacuated to England and invalided to Australia. He was discharged from the AIF as medically unfit on 27 December 1917. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

In 1921, the army launched an investigation as to Pte STEPHENS in that he had originally enlisted in the AIF on 18 December 1914 and given service number 1585. He has then re-enlisted in the AIF in Adelaide on 4 November 1916 and given service number 2774. Despite identical signatures on both the 1914 and the 1916 enlistment papers and similar information on both papers, he denied he was the same person. His wife later admitted that he was the same person but STEPHENS never admitted he was one of the same.