Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Arrived in Australia aged 21 years

Son of Eliza E. Emery of 10 Sutherland Road, Park Lane, Tottenham, London, England. Next of kin given as his sister E. Hollington of the above address

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

John was aged 21 when he arrived in Australia and was working as a quarryman when he enlisted in 1914. His Military records are largely missing, and those that exist record only his journey to Egypt and his death. As a member of the 3rd reinforcement draft for the 16th Battalion, John departed Fremantle aboard HMAT A50 Itonus on 22 Feb 1915 and disembarked in Egypt on 24 Mar 1915. The period between his arrival in Egypt and his death is very short. When the battalion history book "The Old Sixteenth" by Capt C. Longmore is compared with the scant records available it reveals that John proceeded from Heliopolis to Alexandria by rail early on 11 Apr 1915, arriving there in the morning and boarding HMT Haida Pascha, a German prize ship captured at the commencement of the war.

The ship weighed anchor at 4:10pm on 12 Apr 1915 and sailed for Mudros Harbour on Lemnos Island where it arrived at 6:30pm on 15 Apr 1915. The first and second reinforcements had sailed with the main battalion. The next few days were spent practicing landing from ships, until around noon on 25 Apr 1915 the "Haida Pascha" sailed for the coast of Gallipoli, arriving soon after 4:00pm. The Reinforcements with the main body were the first to land at 5:45am on the 26th April and they were detailed as a beach fatigue party, unloading ammunition and stores from boats and carrying it off the beach to units holding the line.

John's records don't reveal when (or if) he was taken on strength by the 16th Battalion, but those who survived their stevedoring duties didn't join the Battalion formally until 2 May. His death predates that so it is uncertain if he was killed while a member of the beach party, or in the company of the men from the battalion who Longmore records as having been withdrawn from the front lines on Pope's Hill the night before John's death. They had been placed in a gully to the rear known as Rest Camp. However, Turkish snipers over the next 2 days killed or wounded 50 men.

"In the course of conversation I learned how another Emery, from Boulder, not related to our wounded friend, died. A number of volunteers, were sent out to bring in water. Emery being amongst them. He remarked, 'It will be hard luck if any of us get sniped now, immediately afterwards changing places with another man. Then a bullet struck him, and he dropped dead with the exclamation 'Oh. my mother!' They told me he was a splendid fellow*; his mother, I understand, lives in England.