Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John was the son of Andreas Carl DUE & Catherine Anne HERBERT and was born in 1885 at 22 Madeline Street, Carlton, VIC.

His parents were married on the 29th of March 1884 in St Peters Church, Notting Hill, England.

His father was the son of Andreas Peterson DUE & Hansine SCHLAU and was born on the 20th of February 1859 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
His mother was the daughter of Christopher HERBERT & Elizabeth and was born in 1849 in England.

John was the second child born into the family of 3 children and the first child born in Australia.

His father was a Jeweller and the family lived at 22 Madeline Street, Carlton, VIC.

John was only 14 years old when his father died suddenly of heart failure on the 31st of March 1899 and they buried him in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

After the death of his father the family moved to 30 Madeline Street, Carlton and on completing his schooling John became a blacksmith and farrier.

By 1906 he was employed as a blacksmith in Echuca and by 1914 he had moved to 7 Evansdale Road, Hawthorn and was employed as a blacksmith.

At the age of 29, John enlisted in the 1st AIF on the 18th of August 1914 in Melbourne VIC and was allotted the service number 89 and posted to the 2nd Field Ambulance AAMC at Broadmeadows.

John embarked from the Town Pier, Melbourne on board HMAT A18 Wiltshire on the 19th of October 1914 and also on the troopship was the 4th Light Horse Regiment.
He served at Gallipoli and the Western Front before suffering from a Gastric Ulcer.

John embarked from England on the 12th of November 1916 on board HT Wiltshire, disembarking in Melbourne on the 31st of December.

John was discharged, medically unfit, from the AIF on the 3rd of February 1917 and granted a war pension of £1 per fortnight.

John married Jane MILLS in early 1917 in Melbourne.
Jane was the daughter of Joseph MILLS & Minnie BRADBURY and was born on the 23rd of February 1887 in Shepparton, VIC.

They made their first home at 18 Charles Street, Footscray and John gained employment as an Ammunition Viewer.
The following year they moved to The Hut, Queen Street, Coburg and John was an Ammunition Worker.
With the end of the War John gained employment as a clerk and they moved to 15 Moore Street, Brighton and then by 1924 they had moved to Malvern.

By 1936 they were living at 45 Valley Parade, Glen Iris and John was still a clerk.
John’s mother Catherine also lived with them and died in their home on the 4th of March 1936.

John retired and on the 7th of August 1946 they purchased a portion of section 542, Hundred of Caroline, which contained 19 acres and was located at Donovans Landing in South Australia.
The following year he was the secretary for the Donovan’s Progress Association.

John died on the 31st of May 1959 and was buried the following day in the Lake Terrace Cemetery, Mt Gambier; Section K, Plot 931.

After John died Jane sold up 7 months later and moved to Melbourne where she died on the 3rd of June 1966 and was buried in the Springvale Botanical Cemetery.

They never had children.

Military

At the age of 29, John enlisted in the 1st AIF on the 18th of August 1914 in Melbourne VIC and was allotted the service number 89 and posted to the 2nd Field Ambulance AAMC at Broadmeadows.
He listed his mother, of Leongatha, VIC, as his next of kin.

On the 15th of September he was promoted to Driver, but was then reduced back to Private 3 weeks later.

John embarked from the Town Pier, Melbourne on board HMAT A18 Wiltshire on the 19th of October 1914 and also on the troopship was the 4th Light Horse Regiment.
They sailed via Albany and after a few days stoppage here they left Albany on the 1st of November heading towards Colombo.
They arrived at Colombo on the 15th at 1:52pm and after 2 days they sailed for Aden, arriving on the 25th of November.
After 1 day in Aden they sailed for Suez, arriving at 12:15pm on the 1st of December and after 4 hours here they sailed for Port Said, arriving at 8:55am on the morning of the 2nd of December.

Five days was spent at Port Said before they sailed for Alexandria on the 7th of December, arriving the following day.
They disembarked 3 days later and entrained to Mena Camp, some 10 miles from Cairo.
Christmas 1914 was spent here and John and his unit trained in the desert for the next 3 months.

On the 5th of April 1915 John and his unit embarked from Alexandria on board the SS Mashobra to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) for the Gallipoli Peninsula and arrived at Port Mudros, Lemnos on the 11th of April.
They never disembarked and remained on board the Mashobra for the next 13 days.
At 5am on the 24th of April 1915 they sailed from Port Mudros and anchored off Lemnos Island at 10am for 1 hour before continuing their journey.

By 5am on the morning of the 25th of April they were anchored off of Gaba Tepe awaiting their orders for their landing.
John landed with the stretcher bearers, but the tent and transport units didn’t land, instead they sailed to Imbros Island and converted the Mashobra into a temporary hospital ship.

John’s role, with his unit, was the rapid collection of sick or wounded from the front line aid posts. This meant they ran the same risks as combat troops and were under constant threat of shell fire and rifle or machine gunfire.
Four days after they landed the converted Mashobra arrived and anchored off ANZAC Cove, 404 casualties were placed on board and she sailed for Alexandria on the 1st of May.

John and his unit remained on the Peninsula and formed a Dressing Station formed on Brighton Beach where they constantly attended to sick and wounded.
On the 8th of September, after more than 4 months on the Peninsula they received orders to prepare to embark for Mudros.
They embarked the following day and arrived on the morning of the 10th, disembarked at 1130am and marched 3 miles to Sarpi Rest Camp. This march took quite some time as the men were in a very low state of health.

On the 17th of November, after 9 weeks of rest, they boarded HMT Abbassia for embarkation to ANZAC Cove, but after remaining on board for some time their embarkation order was cancelled and they disembarked and returned to Sarpi Rest Camp where they carried at hospital work.

After 6 more weeks and Christmas 1915, on the 30th of December, they marched out of camp and embarked on board Waterwitch and then transhipped to MHT Tunisian and sailed to the outer harbour and anchored.
At 4am, the following morning they set sail for Alexandria and 2 days later they arrived at Alexandria at 1100am, disembarked and entrained at 930pm for Tel-el-Kebir, arriving at 0300 on the 3rd of January 1916.

After 3 days here they moved to a new camp site north east of the 1st Australian Divisional Headquarters and started admitting patients to hospital 2 days later.
Then on the 1st of February they entrained for Serapeum and bivouacked on the west bank of the Suez Canal for the night.
By the 4th they were situated 1 mile west of the Canal and commenced to receive patients.

On the 6th of March John suffered from Asthenopia and was admitted into his own hospital for 6 days before being discharged back to duty.
Two weeks later, on the 24th of March, they entrained at Serapeum Siding at 8:30pm for Alexandria and at 2030 and embarked on board HMT Briton for Marseilles the following day.
Six days later they disembarked in Marseilles and entrained for Godewaersvelde, arriving 2 days later and marching to Pradelles.

They then formed a hospital at La Creche on the 3rd of April and then moved onto Erquinghem 2 weeks later. Two more weeks was spent here before they moved to Saint Maur and formed an advanced dressing station before moving to Ecole St. Louis, Estaires on the 1st of May.
Then 3 weeks later they established a main dressing station at Sailly.

On the 26th of June John suffered from Gastritis and Dyspepsia and was admitted into his own hospital before being transferred to the 1st Casualty Clearing Station in Estaires on the 1st of July.
Two days later he was evacuated by ambulance train to the 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital in Boulogne and then evacuated to England on board HS St Dennis and admitted into the 5th Northern General Hospital in Leicester on the 4th.

After 2 weeks he was transferred to the 1st Australian Hospital in Harefield where he remained for the next 5 weeks until he was discharged to details at No.2 Command Depot in Weymouth on the 2nd of September.
He spent Christmas 1916 here and then suffered from Gastritis once more and was admitted into Hospital on the 16th of January 1917.
John was transferred the following day to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Harefield and after another week was discharged back to the Command Depot.

John embarked from England on the 12th of November 1916 on board HT Wiltshire, disembarking in Melbourne on the 31st of December.

John was discharged, medically unfit, from the AIF on the 3rd of February 1917 and awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War & Victory Medals.