Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Jack was born on the 18th of June, 1898, at Mitta Mitta, Victoria. He was the youngest of six children of John and Rosetta Jane (née Foster). John and Rosetta had been married in Ireland and arrived in Australia in 1886. In 1899, Jack’s father, John, passed away. The following year Rosetta married Robert Wesley Courtney, a 60 year-old widower from Mitta Mitta.  In 1905 Rosetta gave birth to a son, a step-brother for Jack. Tragedy struck the family in 1913, when Robert passed away.

By the start of 1918, Jack’s brother, Sergeant James Foster Campbell, and a number of cousins were already enlisted and serving on the Western Front. Jack was over 19 but his 20th birthday was some months away. Keen to join up and do his bit before the war ended, Jack enlisted on the 27th of March with, supposedly, his mother’s permission. He was allocated the Regimental Number 51331 and placed into the 2nd General (Victorian) Reinforcements. 

After completing his initial training at Broadmeadows camp near Melbourne, his unit embarked at Sydney on HMAT A14 Euripides on the first day of May, 1918. The Euripides landed at New York, USA, on the 14th of June and it was here that Jack, along with the rest of his unit, transhipped to HMS Tentonie and sailed to Liverpool, England.

Upon arriving in England he was posted to the 5th Training Battalion where he was allotted to the 24th Battalion. Further training was undertaken before he was shipped to France on the Rovant on the 22nd of September. A week later he joined his battalion in the field. During this stage of the war the Allied armies were making attempts to breach, and capture, the main Hindenburg Line. On the 3rd of October the 5th and 7th Brigades of the 2nd Division attacked the Beaurevoir Line. This was partially successful but later in the day the 6th Brigade, which included Jack and the 24th Battalion, was called up to help take the final objective. 

The following day it was decided to take the 2nd Division out of the line. However, the 6th Brigade remained and attacked the village of Beaurevoir. Unfortunately the village was not taken and the 6th Brigade’s lines now protruded into the enemy lines between the villages of Beaurevoir and Montbrehain. On the 5th of October the 6th Brigade advanced to take the village of Montbrehain. 

The 6th Brigade succeeded in occupying the village and in the process took 400 German prisoners. The action claimed 430 Australian casualties. The day after the action at Montbrehain, the battalion left the line for the last time.

After the action Jack was listed as missing. This message was eventually conveyed to his mother. The army made enquiries as to whether he had been taken prisoner. They even wrote to his mother to ask if she had received any information or correspondence from Jack. On the last day of 1918, the army held a court of inquiry and came to the decision that Jack be declared as being “killed in action”

After the war his body was found in an isolated grave near Montbrehain and he was  reinterred in the Prospect Hill Cemetery, Gouy, France. Rosetta now had closure. Jack is also remembered on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, and the Mitta Mitta State School No. 887 Honor Roll, and the Towong Shire Boer War and WW1 Memorial in the Tallangatta Memorial Hall. For his service during the First World War, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.