James Clifford MARTIN

James Clifford MARTIN Update Details

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MARTIN, James Clifford

Service Number:	3979
Enlisted:	2 October 1915, Enlisted at Holsworthy, NSW
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	20th Infantry Battalion
Born:	Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, February 1894
Home Town:	Cooma, Cooma-Monaro, New South Wales
Schooling:	St Joseph's College Hunters Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation:	Surveyor Assistant
Died:	Killed in Action, Pozieres, Somme Sector, France, 1 August 1916
Cemetery:	Pozières British Cemetery Plot 111, Row L, Grave 39 Headstone inscription reads: In memory of the dearly loved son of Mr and Mrs Martin, Pozieres British Cemetery Ovillers-La Boisselle, Pozieres, Picardie, France
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour

World War 1 Service

2 Oct 1915:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3979, 20th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Holsworthy, NSW
20 Jan 1916:	Involvement Private, 3979, 20th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Runic embarkation_ship_number: A54 public_note: ''
20 Jan 1916:	Embarked Private, 3979, 20th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Runic, Sydney

Help us honour James Clifford Martin's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Carol Foster

Son of James Charles and Mary Ann Martin of 'Llangrove', Cooma, NSW

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From François Berthout, Australia and NZ in WWI

Today, it is with a heart full of respect and my thoughts full of gratitude that I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 3979 James Clifford Martin who fought in the 20th Australian Infantry Battalion and was killed in action 104 years ago, on August 1, 1916 at the age of 23 on the Somme front.

James Clifford Martin was born in 1894 in Cooma, New South Wales and he was the son of James Charles and Mary Ann Martin and lived in Langrove, Cooma, New South Wales. James was educated at St Joseph's College, Hunter's Hill, Sydney , New South Wales and before the war he worked as a surveyor assistant and was single.

Enlisted on October 2, 1915 in Holsworthy, New South Wales at the age of 22 in the 20th Australian Infantry Battalion, 9th Reinforcement, he embarked with his unit from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A54 Runic on January 20, 1916 and sailed for Egypt where he was disembarked to join the British Expeditionary Force before embarking with his unit from Alexandria on March 27, 1916 and sailed for France and was disembarked to Marseilles on April 3, 1916 and was sent to Etaples before joining the front of the Somme on June 17, 1916.

In the Somme, James fought with great courage during the battle of Pozieres but it is also here that he found his destiny and was killed two months after joining the front on August 1, 1916 at the age of 23.
Today, James Clifford Martin rests in peace in the Pozieres British Cemetery alongside his comrades who paid the greatest sacrifice.
James had two cousins, John Martin of Glenn Innes, New South Wales, and Reginald Martin of Dimberoy, New South Wales, and were both killed in action.

James, you who walked through the hell of the Somme battlefields, you were so young and so brave, fighting with a brave heart through the trenches filled with blood and misery, in a constant rain of bullets lashing the ground under their shrill whistles and under avalanches of shells, burning metal plowing the ground digging the earth and drowning men, in this hell you have done your duty with the greatest of bravery, facing day after day the death, suffering and violence of this world at war which mowed down a whole generation of brave men and young men who had a life ahead of them, hopes, families to build and who sacrificed every part of their youth on the battlefields and who never had the chance to return home.Today, John, you who rest in peace here in the Somme, Australian land on the land of France, we will always watch over you and your comrades with gratitude and with the greatest of respect , we will never forget who you were and what you did, for your country, for france, for all of us, for a better world.Your name will live on forever.Thank you John, from the bottom of my heart.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.🌺

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