BLACK, John Alexander
| Service Number: | 282 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 March 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 10th Machine Gun Company |
| Born: | Upotipotpon, Victoria, 1896 |
| Home Town: | Violet Town, Strathbogie, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Upotipotpon North State School |
| Occupation: | Farmhand |
| Died: | Mooroopna, Victoria, 1971, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Shepparton Public Cemetery, Victoria |
| Memorials: | Benalla Presbyterian Church WW1 Honour Roll, Violet Town Honour Roll WW1, Violet Town Upotipotpon Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 4 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 282, 10th Machine Gun Company, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '21' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Orontes embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 16 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 282, 10th Machine Gun Company, RMS Orontes, Melbourne |
Help us honour John Alexander Black's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Elsa Reuter
BLACK John Alexander 282 PTE
10th Machine Gun Coy
1896-1971
John Alexander (Jack) and his older brother Sam enlisted in WW1 on the same day in Melbourne; the date was 4 March 1916. Jack was not quite 20 so Sam enlisted to ‘keep an eye on his young brother.’
After five months training at Seymour they embarked on Orontes bound for Plymouth where they arrived in October. They attended a training Camp at Lark Hill on the Salisbury Plain, then proceeded overseas to Belgium.
They both served at the Battle of Passchendaele where, on 4 October 1916 Sam was mortally wounded. Jack survived the battle which killed his brother. He was wounded but his service records do not state how badly. Both boys were listed in the Unit Diary as being casualties in the battle.
The following months saw Jack hospitalised on and off with illness, then on 12 June 1918 he was wounded in action with a gunshot wound to his left wrist. For this he was invalided to the War Hospital in Bath, England.
He was declared medically unfit for active service and returned to Australia aboard D23 on 27 September 1918, to be discharged two months later.
The following report of Jack’s ‘Welcome home’ was published in the Benalla Standard on 3 December:
‘Pte J Black, son of Cr W Black, Upotipotpon, arrived in Violet Town on Wednesday morning and was given a good welcome, the church bells being rung beforehand to notify the residents that a soldier was arriving by the next train. The Cheero Girls formed a guard of honour (with crossed flags) from the station to motor car and as the warrior passed through he was deluged with confetti and rose leaves. There was an official address, after which the girls’ club sang ‘When the boys come back’.
Jack’s service medals - the British War Medal and the Victory Medal were sent to his father in 1921.
Jack married Olive Ewart from Tamleugh in 1920. He worked as a railway employee until his father grew too old to manage the farm in Black’s Lane so Jack returned to farming. He and Olive suffered much family tragedy. There were twins, Vernon and Douglas who lived less than a year, then Verna, Kevin, Murray, Valerie who was born in 1930 died when only 16, and Elaine.
Jack died in Mooroopna Hospital in 1971 and was buried in the Shepparton Cemetery.
There was a Memorial Avenue planted in 1918 but no one knows exactly where it is. The search goes on . . .
The school closed in 1915 and removed to a site south of Benalla at Burke’s Hill. From there many years later as the population shifted the school building was re-sited at Warrenbayne West.
© 2016 Sheila Burnell