John Ulrich HOOD

HOOD, John Ulrich

Service Numbers: 5110, 480, 1087
Enlisted: 4 May 1901, Selected for Imperial Service as a Scout while serving in 2nd NSW Mounted Rifles. He was then enlisted as a Corporal into the NSW Imperial Bushmen at Klerksdorf in the Transvaal.
Last Rank: Sergeant
Last Unit: 3rd Pioneer Battalion
Born: Glenelg, South Australia, 25 June 1876
Home Town: Claremont, Western Australia
Schooling: Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, South Australia
Occupation: Surveyor
Died: Killed in Action, Belgium, 15 October 1917, aged 41 years
Cemetery: Potijze Chateau Grounds Cemetery
II G 1.
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Kent Town Prince Alfred College Honour Roll, Nangeenan Roll of Honour
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Boer War Service

1 Oct 1899: Involvement Corporal, 5110, 3rd New South Wales Imperial Bushmen
15 Mar 1901: Embarked Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Trooper, 480, 2nd New South Wales Mounted Rifles, Departed from Sydney. Disembarked at Port Elizabeth in South Africa on 17 April 1901.
17 Apr 1901: Involvement Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Trooper, 480
4 May 1901: Enlisted Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Corporal, 5110, New South Wales Imperial Bushmen, Selected for Imperial Service as a Scout while serving in 2nd NSW Mounted Rifles. He was then enlisted as a Corporal into the NSW Imperial Bushmen at Klerksdorf in the Transvaal.
12 Jul 1902: Embarked Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Corporal, 5110, 3rd New South Wales Imperial Bushmen, R.T.A. from Durban in South Africa to Sydney on "Drayton Grange"
11 Aug 1902: Discharged Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Corporal, 5110, 3rd New South Wales Imperial Bushmen

World War 1 Service

6 Jun 1916: Embarked Corporal, 1087, 3rd Pioneer Battalion, HMAT Wandilla, Melbourne
6 Jun 1916: Involvement Corporal, 1087, 3rd Pioneer Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Wandilla embarkation_ship_number: A62 public_note: ''
15 Oct 1917: Involvement Sergeant, 1087, 3rd Pioneer Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1087 awm_unit: 3 Pioneer Battalion awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1917-10-15

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Biography contributed by Faithe Jones

John Ulrich Hood, 5110, 5th Contingent Mounted Rifles, 3rd NSW Imperial Bushmen, for the Boer War in full uniform c.1901.

This is the same soldier who also served in the First World War for the 3rd Australian Pioneer Battalion (1087) and was unfortunately KIA in France in 1917.

Born in Glenelg SA, the son of John HOOD and Martha Mary nee HUBBE.

Hood found employment as a Surveyor in NSW 1890-93. Here he joined the Mounted Rifles of the 5th Contingent. He spent a year in South Africa and 6 months in Imperial Headquarters until being discharged at the end of the war. He enlisted for WW1 in 1916 and was sentenced by the District Court Martial just after embarking for being AWOL, and spent 22 days in Custody.

He proceeded to fight in France and was promoted to Sergeant and in the slogging battle to take the Passchendaele Ridge, was KIA on the 15th October 1917.

“On 10 October 1917 the division returned to the front and began to make preparations to assault Passchendaele Ridge, an advance of over 3,000 yards (2,700 m). Heavy rain, however, had turned the battlefield into a thick, muddy morass. The mud was so thick that the infantry were unable to keep up with the barrage and, unable to maintain the required rate of advance, they eventually they fell behind the barrage and lost any cover that it might otherwise have provided.

Upon reaching the Bellevue Spur, the assaulting infantry, caught in the open upon the barbed wire in front of the German positions suffered heavily at the hands of the German artillery that was able to fire without answer from the British batteries that had run out of ammunition. By the end of the day, the division had lost almost 3,200 men killed or wounded. They played no further offensive role in the battle and were eventually removed from the line on 22 October as the Canadians took over from them.

He is buried in Zonnebeke, Ypes, Belgium.

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