HAYES, John Stitchell
| Service Numbers: | 6025, V91646 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 April 1916, Embarked on the Themistocles on the 28 July 1916. Returned on the Port Darwin 12 June 1919 and then discharged. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 3 Garrison Battalion (Vic) |
| Born: | Tooborac, Victoria, Australia, 10 April 1896 |
| Home Town: | Tooborac, Mitchell, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Tooborac Primary School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia, 29 October 1991, aged 95 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Wangaratta Cemetery, Victoria |
| Memorials: | Tooborac Roll of Honour WW1 |
World War 1 Service
| 5 Apr 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 6025, 7th Infantry Battalion, Embarked on the Themistocles on the 28 July 1916. Returned on the Port Darwin 12 June 1919 and then discharged. |
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World War 2 Service
| 24 Dec 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V91646, 3 Garrison Battalion (Vic) | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Jan 1942: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V91646, 3 Garrison Battalion (Vic) |
Help us honour John Stitchell Hayes's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by William Burt
Jack learned to be a farmer alongside his father Edward, two big brothers, Mark and Eddie, and their youngest brother Leslie. His mother Sarah had her hands full with four daughters in the house – Mary Jane “Tottie”, Evelyn, Dora, and Violet. Little three-year-old Winifred sadly died on Jack’s first birthday from sunstroke.
Twenty-year-old Jack enrolled in the Army along with many of his Hayes and Donaldson cousins. He trained in England, visited cousins in Cornwall, and fought in France. He had time in hospitals from illnesses, gassing, and wounds. His many letters to family during the war have been collected into a book. One letter, written about a France village encounter, reads "They had never seen Australians before and thought we were all black. ... The Germans said we were cannibals ..."
Having returned, he rarely spoke of the mud, misery and slaughter of the Somme but forged a lasting comradeship with many mates of the 7th Battalion. He attended the annual Anzac Day march in Melbourne as well as the 7th Battalion Church Service in Sydney Road Methodist Church in Brunswick. Jack regularly wrote interesting articles for “Despatches”, the 7th Battalion magazine.
Jack married and had two sons and two daughters. He lived to 95 years. A son and daughter are in their 90's now in 2025.
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