CALLOW, John
| Service Number: | 2608 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 16 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, 15 June 1895 |
| Home Town: | Fremantle, Fremantle, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Driver |
| Died: | Victoria Park, Western Australia, 28 September 1960, aged 65 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2608, 28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 2608, 28th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
| 2 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 2608, 28th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ulysses, Fremantle |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Jack Callow was captured by the Germans at Mouquet Farm on 3 September 1916. When he was repatriated in 1918, he gave the following account, “At about 5.10 am on the 3rd we got the order to advance. Our objective was the enemy’s first trench and we were to capture Mouquet Farm and the strong posts about the Farm and the advance 150 yards further on and take up position there.” Jack was a bomber and they were instructed to remain at Mouquet Farm and bomb out the dugouts and strong posts. They succeeded in their advance and set to, to carry out their work, and had succeeded in bombing the Germans out of two dugouts when Callow was wounded. He was hit by shrapnel, a splinter entering his right side and lodging in his right lung. He was rendered helpless but crawled to a large dugout a few yards away. At about 9.00 am the Germans counter attacked and very quickly drove the remnants of the 51st Battalion back and recaptured the whole area. Callow estimates around 100 men of the 51st Battalion were in and around the dugout.
He arrived back in England during October 1918 and spent a few weeks in hospital being treated for an old gunshot wound to the leg. He was returned to Australia during June 1919.
Jack married after the war and became a noted footballer for the South Fremantle football and soccer clubs.
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