PASINI, John
| Service Numbers: | 1603, 1630 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 November 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 14th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | St Arnaud, Victoria, Australia, September 1891 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Died: | Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia, 23 August 1935, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Coburg Pine Ridge Cemetery, Victoria, Australia PLOT - Roman Catholic E, Grave 921 |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 28 Nov 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1603, 14th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Feb 1915: | Involvement Private, 1603, 14th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Runic embarkation_ship_number: A54 public_note: '' | |
| 19 Feb 1915: | Embarked Private, 1603, 14th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Runic, Melbourne | |
| 28 May 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 1630, 14th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, GSW to back, returned to Australia | |
| 3 Apr 1916: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 1630, 14th Infantry Battalion, 3rd MD, Due to wounding, Gallipoli |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Gallipoli Association
Private John (Giacomo) Pasini, 14th Battalion, 3rd Reinforcements from St Arnaud, Victoria.
A 23 year old miner who enlisted #OTD in 1914. He embarked from Melbourne on board HMAT Runic on 19 February 1915. Pte Pasini was wounded at Gallipoli on 26th May.
Private J. Pasini, wrote to his mother at St. Arnaud North from Heliopolis, Egypt on June 6th 1915:
I am not too bad. I stopped one after fighting for 4½ weeks. I got it in the back below the right kidney. It did not go right through; if it had I might have been a cold soldier now.
Peter is alright as far as I know. He was in the trenches when I was hit on 26th May.
A big crowd of us were in the water swimming, and the enemy started firing shrapnel. I escaped the bullets from the first shell, got out of the water, and went under the bank of the hill. I was hit when the next shell burst. The Turks fire shells on the beach every day, and get a lot of the boys.
The day I was hit seven of us were lying on the side of the hill for a rest. We were dog tired, having been in the trenches for 48 hours without any sleep. Three of those on one side of me and two on the other were wounded - some very badly but I escaped.
The previous night the Turks charged at us from midnight till noon the next day. What with the machine guns, rifles, and artillery, the hills fairly trembled. The Turks came on in thousands, but they could not get our trenches. As fast as they approached they were shot down.
The officers told us it was a great victory for us to keep them back. They came at us 10 to 1 - that's the way we like them to come, so we can mow them down in hundreds.
A man's life is valued at nothing in war. You are shot down like rabbits, and all one thinks about is to beat the enemy. We have had dead bodies by the hundred right up to our trenches, lying there for a month. The smell was getting terrible.
The Turks wanted four days to bury their dead, but were given nine hours. Our men and the Turks worked half-way between each other's trenches and buried all the dead bodies they could. The Turks were not allowed to come nearer than half-way to our trenches, which were well manned, for the Turks are a treacherous lot.
Our wounded are well looked after. We all think of home - there is no place like Australia.
The letters come to the soldiers in the trenches. It livens a man to get a letter from home. I will write again before I go back to the front.
Don't worry about us. If it is God's will, we will come home again, if not, we will die like men.
Private Pasini returned to Australia on 15 August 1915 and was discharged from service on 13th April 1916.
[Thanks to Melanie Di Francesco for the information]
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