Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

In South Australia there lived a man named James Lionel Keogh, he was just your everyday ordinary man he was 23 years old he was a tailor.  Until one day on the 19th of April in 1916 James decided that he was going enroll to be a part of World War One. Many men made the same decision, all knowing the risk of potentially never retuning back home to their families. People made this choice for different reasons it may had been for the money, maybe they were told it was going to be cool or fun and some just did it because they were good people who wanted to fight for their country. Whatever the reason, what these men didn’t know was that this decision was going to make them a part of one of the most significant parts of Australian History.   

When James started in the army he was a private which is the lowest rank. He trained in many places all around the world. On the 17/12/16 he arrived in France. James served in the 32nd Battalion as the 8th reinforcement.The 32nd Battalion, 8ths reinforcement left Australia and set for sail on the HMAT A70 Ballarat on the 12th of Australia 1916. Most of the men in the 32nd Battalion, 8ths reinforcement were from South Australia, New South Wales, and the West Coast of Victoria.

While James was in France he was recorded as absent without leave form the 26/10/16 to the 29/10/16, his punishment was 10 days without pay.  On the 20/ 7/ 18 James was promoted to lance corporal while he was still in France. A lance corporal was ranked below corporal but above private, the promotion meant that James had now responsibilities. The responsibilities that came with being a lance corporal was supervising a group of soldiers, any action taken by one their team members were their responsibility and if something was to go wrong they would be held accountable. Usually after a year or so a private was promoted to a lance corporal.

Some weapons which James Lionel Keogh might had used in world war one were rifles, machine guns and poison gases. The most commonly used weapon in World War One was the rifle, which can shoot up to 1,400 meters away and can shoot up to 15 bullets in one minute. Gasses would cause a burning feeling inside your throat and chest. Many people got killed from gas, it was extremely painful. Sometime if the wind was going in the wrong direction people could accidently kill their own troops. Machine guns were hard to use and needed about 3 people to fire one. The machine guns in World War One had the fire power of 100 ordinary guns.

While James was serving in the war in France he suddenly feel ill and was taken to hospital on the 6/9/18. Not long after on the 15/9/18 James was moved from France to England as his sickness was becoming more severe. Almost 2 months later on the 10/12/16 James left England and went back home to Australia.

James never got married or had any children. Sadly, on the 26th of June 1973 James Lionel Keogh passed away in his home town of Adelaide. He now rests in peace in the Garden of Remembrance in South Australia.

The word ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. On the 25th of April 1915 soldiers from Australia and New Zealand came together to form an alliance. They were planning to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula. When the ANZAC’s arrived in Gallipoli their plan to defeat turkey didn’t exactly go to plan. The ANZAC’s thought that taking Turkey out of the war would be quick and easy, but little did they know Turkey was prepared with their fierce resistance from the Ottoman Turkish defenders. The fight went on for eight months. When the war on Gallipoli had ended, it was recorded that over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed. Still to this day we gather on ANZAC day to have a commemoration service to remember the people who sacrificed their lives for ours. We take a period of silence in honor of the ANZACs.

The ANZAC Spirit means to have mateship, courage, endurance and bravery.  All the soldiers who were in world war one had these qualities. I believe that James Lionel Keogh showed the ANZAC spirit. He showed mateship when he became a Lance corporal and was in charge of the safe of the men in his group, he protected them and took care of them during the war. He showed courage when he signed up to join the war, he knew there was a chance he may never had made it back home to his family but he had the courage to take the chance to fight for his country. Endurance when things got tough he had to keep on fighting on. We he saw men he knew fall he didn’t run away he endured. Lastly bravery, he showed bravery when he set off to France to fight in the war and didn’t decide to go back when he was scared for his life. That is why I think that James Lionel Keogh had true ANZAC Spirt.