Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

James Reidy was born on the 19th of September 1898, in Bowden, South Australia. He was Roman Catholic.

At the time of his enlistment – on the 18th of March 1918 – he was living in Norwood as a farmer with only his mother, Elizabeth Lawton, as his father had passed away. James enlisted in Adelaide, and he would have had to pass a series of medical tests and make a solemn promise before joining an army unit. At the beginning of the war, when there were many volunteers, the medical requirements were very precise and strict. As the war went on and the government became desperate for more soldiers, the medical requirement became quite lenient. 

On the 5/6/18, James Reidy embarked on the HMAT (Her Majesty’s Australian Transport) Orontes with the 121 other soldiers from South Australia that were part of the 2nd Reinforcements. He was administrated to in the ship’s hospital on the 23/6/18 and discharged on the 4/7/18 for tonsilitis. The soldiers disembarked 47 days later in Liverpool, England. On the 13/8/18, he was allocated to the 32nd Battalion and started training in Codford as an infantry soldier, also known as a foot soldier. Codford was just West of Salisbury, made up of about 15 different camps. A poem was written about Codford Camp, likely to be the work of a soldier training there. It mentions that the landscape is filled with lots of little huts, which could be considered quite luxury in comparison to many other camps such as Blackboy hill where the soldiers slept in tents. However, the poem then goes on to mention that there were many rats. The poem also mentions the training conditions: "Its sludge up to the eyebrows, you get it in your ears, but into it you’ve got to go, without a sign of fear. You gallop up and down the hills just like a blooming rabbit, “Heads backward bend,” “Arms upward stretch,” “Heels raise,” then “Ranks change places.”

After training in Codford for about two months, on the 8/10/18, he was diagnosed with influenza and taken to Harefield hospital. Influenza was at its peak during 1918-19, and it spread rapidly through training camps and trenches due to the poor food, clothes and shelter, and the unhygienic and cramped living conditions. After spending eight days in a hospital in Harefield, he was discharged to a convalescent depot (place of recovery from medical treatment). On the 23rd of October he was moved out to another convalescent depot in Hurdcott. On the 11th of November 1919 – while James Reidy was recovering from his sickness in Hurdcott – the war finished with an armistice.

He was sentenced to 60 days detention in Lewis as a result of being absent without leave from the 3/12/18 to the 30/12/18. At Lewes, he experienced hard military training with strict discipline. He had 17 days of detention remitted from his sentence, so he was discharged on the 10/3/19.

James Reidy then spent from the 10/3/19 to the 3/5/19 in Weymouth, which was a camp aimed at retraining soldiers to return to Australia. The soldiers chose a profession to study including architecture, motor engineering, electrical and carpentry classes.

James Reidy travelled back to Australia aboard the HMAT Leicestershire. He disembarked in Melbourne on the 18/6/1919 and was awarded the British War Medal for service overseas.

James Reidy passed away on the 15th May 1961 in Adelaide at the age of 63 and is buried at Centennial Park Cemetery, Adelaide.