Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From the book Fallen Saints - 

John Campbell Dale Warren of Katanning, Western Australia was born at Woodville, South Australia in January 1897. When he was only four months old his mother took him to join his father (OS) on Montacollina cattle station on the Strzlecki Creek in the Lake Eyre Country. He attended St Peter's College 1911-1913 and under the guidance of Canon Girdlestone did very well in all his classes but especially so in Mathematics and French.

In 1913 his father took him out of the Collegein order to  afford his siblings a similar opportunity and so John  took up farming and worked as a station hand in South Australia before moving to Katanning Western Australia with his parents. There he enlisted with the Citizens Force and served in Badgebup Troop, Katanning Squadron of the 20th Light Horse Regiment; his strong leadership skills coupled with his outstanding riding ability ensured that over time he became a section commander.

He enlisted in Perth on 28 June 1917 and sailed from Sydney aboard HMAT Medic with the 26th quota of reinforcements for the 16th Battalion on 1 August. He was transferred to the SS Orita at Halifax Nova Scotia on 21 September and after disembarking at Liverpool in early October Private Warren marched in to the 4th Training Battalion at Codford.

Writing from Codford in December 1917 he reported having had a more enjoyable Christmas than he’d expected especially since he had been granted leave on Christmas day 8 a.m., until midnight.

He told his family how as they weren’t allowed to travel by train so he and two mates walked to a small village about 8 kilometres from the camp.

Upon reaching the village they found they were just in time for morning service at the church and were later invited to the village squire’s house for dinner. ‘We had it with the upper servants in the servant’s hall, roast turkey, and apple pudding, and port wine to finish up with. After that we sat and talked away till about half past four, when we had tea and cake, as much as we could eat.’ After helping the servants with the washing up etc, they were invited to join the squire and his family in the drawing room and were surprised to find that including his children and servants there were about 30-35 people sitting or standing around a Christmas tree which was lit up with candles. ‘Everyone, including ourselves, got a present from the Master and Mistress of the house; we got a scarf and a notebook each, chocolates, and some packets of cigarettes.’ John and his friends then had a long talk with the kindly squire and after the gifts had been distributed were sent back to the servants’ hall where at 9 p.m., they were given supper.

When the letter was published in the May 1918 issue of The St Peter’s School Magazine the editor wrote the following comment.

Surely there can be nothing more beautiful and inspiring than the thought of these young Australians so soon to meet the great test, making their communion in that quiet old village church with the kindly folk for whose sake they later made the ultimate sacrifice. [i]

During musketry training at Codford, Private Warren qualified as a first class shot but missed being a marksman by only 15 points out of 100. He successfully completed his tests throwing live bombs and although he had not by then undergone his gas test was feeling confident he would have no problems passing that as well.  I am alright for this job so far and I expect I shall manage as well as the most of them, and a bit better than ‘Fritz.’ I can throw a bomb better than the majority of our fellows, that is, where cricket comes in. [ii]

On 16 January he was admitted to the Military Hospital at Sutton Veny suffering with Bronchitis and remained there until he was discharged fit for duty to the 13th Training Battalion, Codford at the end of the month.  He proceeded to France on 12 February but after joining the 16th Battalion in the field a fortnight later, was taken to 13th Australian Field Ambulance suffering with mumps and at the end of the month was transferred to 7th General Hospital at St. Omer. In the middle of March he was transferred to the Australian Base Depot at Havre and held there until fit enough to rejoin the battalion on 15 April.

In a letter dated 29 June 1918 John told his family he was having a ‘pretty good time’ as the battalion was out of the line for a few days. He said they billeted in a disused water powered woollen factory so were swimming in the river daily and playing plenty of cricket using a pick handle for a bat, and a ball made of a sock filled with old wool. 

On the morning of 16th of this month, just 12 months from the day I went to Katanning and got examined and sworn in, seven out of my platoon, and all of two others in the company, made a raid on the Hun about 12 or half- past in the morning and our section of seven got three prisoners, captured a machine gun, and killed about 30 Fritzes, and only two of us wounded. I accounted for a few myself with bombs, and one with my rifle, so we must be winning. [iii]

John found time to write home again on 14 July and like most soldiers who have experienced the madness, filth and terror of war, chose not to dwell on the ever changing fortunes of life and death in battle.

I got through the hop over we had the other day, and also the holding of the new line, which was the worst part of the whole lot. There was church parade today, followed by Holy Communion, to which I went. This afternoon there is to be a cricket match, our battalion against the 15th Battalion, and I am to play.  [iv]

He was admitted to 4 Australian Field Ambulance with N.Y.D. Pyrexia (fever) on 18 July but rejoined the battalion in the field 10 days later. When he wrote home on 14 August he told his family he had been temporarily made a runner and thought his new role was not a bad job.

By now you will have heard good news from here, and even better still by the time this arrives, if the weather holds. Our chaps think a lot of the Yanks. They are not so mechanically drilled and kept down as the Tommies, but when it comes to a ‘stoush’ they are well there. [v]

On 16 August, two days after writing his last letter, John Warren was reported as Missing, but this was later changed to Killed in Action; he was 21 years of age.

In a letter to the Secretary for the Department of Defence dated 1 January 1920, John’s father wrote that his father, (John’s grandfather) had raised a volunteer Rifle Company at Williamstown Road in the late 1850’s and another in 1884.

He held an honorary commission as Captain in the Royal Mounted Rifles in which I also served as corporal till his death on 14 Sept 1914, and was among the first nine officers to receive the long service medal. [vi]

In March 1919, Corporal Edward Tilley who had been in the same quota of reinforcements for the 16th Battalion as John wrote how during the voyage aboard HMAT Medic they formed a friendship which  grew stronger in England during sport and training.

On 14 August, after a brief period of rest following the attack, the battalion was transferred farther south, and the men bivouaced in the fields around which the villages of Bayonvillers, Harbonnieres and Guillacourt form a triangle.  That day in an effort to get away from the Australian zone altogether  Warren and Tilley went for bicycle tour through the village of Weincourt and further south to Cayeux and by 5 p.m., were in the Canadian area which on the right of the Australians. There a Canadian officer warned them that if they continued along the road they would be exposing themselves to great danger from German fire. Of course they immediately turned around and that night found shelter in the cellar of a two roomed cottage close to the railway crossing at Guillaucourt.

Tilley said the Germans had abandoned an immense ammunition dump at Guillaucourt station, approximately 300 metres from the cellar they’d stayed in and on 16 August began shelling Guillaucourt in an effort to destroy the dump. 

By this time the Battalion Orderly room had been established in the cellar and although several shells landed near it there were no casualties.

Shortly after having lunch with Corporal Tilley and three others men John Warren went for a walk but returned about 1 p.m., and came back into the cellar shortly before a shell hit it; Corporal Tilley was buried for nearly an hour before being dug out. Tilley later wrote that John Warren was originally reported ‘Missing.’

Early next morning they found his body, and it was evident that death had taken place instantly following the explosion. They told me he had been buried alongside of Bull and Cobbe in the small British cemetery on the outskirts of GUILLAUCOURT, going towards WEINCOURT, and that a cross had been placed over his grave… [vii]

John’s cousins Carew Reynell (OS) was killed in action at Gallipoli and Thomas Hogarth MM (OS) was killed in action at Beersheba. [viii]

[i] St Peter’s School Magazine - W K Thomas & Co, Adelaide, May 1918, p. 75
[ii] ibid
[iii] ibid, December, 1918, p. 59
[iv] ibid
[v] ibid, p. 59-60
[vi] Australian War Memorial, Roll of Honour Data Base - Roll of Honour circular  - Warren, John Campbell Dale, viewed 1 June 2006
[vii] Australian War Memorial, Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files - John Campbell Dale Warren / 2860807-7837, viewed 16 April 2006
[viii] Australian War Memorial, Roll of Honour Data Base - Roll of Honour circular  - Warren, John Campbell Dale ,viewed 1 June 2006

Private CAMPBELL WARREN, who was killed in action on August 16, was 21 years of age. He was born in Adelaide, and educated, at St. Peter's College. He was the elder son of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Warren,  of Katanning, Western Australia. He was a grandson of the late Hon. J. Warren, of Mount Crawford, and the late Captain H. D. Dale, of Woodville.