BYERS, John Harold
| Service Number: | 2765 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 50th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Broken Hill, 1898 |
| Home Town: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Adelaide, 17 May 1922, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
West Terrace Cemetery (AIF Section) Section: LO, Road: 4N, Site No: 5 |
| Memorials: | Adelaide Gilles Street Primary School WW1 Honour Roll (New) |
World War 1 Service
| 23 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 2765, 50th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Melbourne embarkation_ship_number: A16 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 2765, 50th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Port Melbourne, Adelaide |
Help us honour John Harold Byers's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by St Ignatius' College
John Harold Byers was born in Broken Hill, New South Wales in 1898. His mother, Mary Shannon, moved to South Australia and decided to live in King Street, Norwood. John was 1.64 metres tall and weighed only 53.5 kg. He was white with brown eyes and brown hair and his religion was Baptist. Before enlisting and joining the frontlines in Europe for the war, Byers was a labourer and single.[1]
His story started on the 4th of September 1916, where John was only 18 years and 4 months old. On this day, he enlisted for Australia in WWI. He was never turned down for enlistment and had no problems with any medical checks. The war had been going for over 2 years and little did he know, it still had another 2 years to go. John trained at the camp in Mitcham along with another 33 000 other soldiers throughout the war. [2]
The ship that Byers embarked on was named ‘The HMAT A16 Star of Victoria’ but was later renamed the ‘Port Melbourne’. The ship left on the 23rd of October 1916. It weighed 9,152 tons and averaged a speed of 25.00 km/ph. [3]They disembarked in Devonport, England on the 28th of December 1916. John became sick on the ship and this carried on when he got off. He went to a camp hospital in England on the 3rd of January 1917 before being moved to the Sutton Hospital on the 20th. After he was released from the hospital, he stayed in England before proceeding to Codford, France from Southampton, England on the 2nd of November 1917. Byers was in the 43rd Battalion and they marched into battle in Havre, France on the 3rd of November 1917. His battalion marched out of battle just 5 days later.[4] The 3rd Division was raised in Australia early in 1916. The 43rd Battalion was South Australia's contribution to the strength of the division. Along with the 41st, 42nd, and 44th Battalions, plus support troops, it formed the 11th Brigade.
After around 5 months he was wounded due to gas on the 26th of May 1918. This brought him out of the war for a month. He then re-joined the battle on the 25th of June 1918. After another 3 months of hard fighting, John went on leave to Musk School in France. After spending 3 weeks at the school he once again re-joined the battle for just over a month. After taking another leave to England on the 1st of November 1918, he went back to France. The 43rd Battalion spent 1917 bogged in bloody trench warfare in Flanders. In June, the battalion took part in the battle of Messines and in October the Third Battle of Ypres. Then in late 1918, they helped drive German forces back to the Hindenburg Line.[5] After the war had ended, he went back to Adelaide on the "Wiltshire". He returned home on the 16th of August 1919. John received the two medals that every Australian Soldier received for fighting for their country. These medals were the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.[6]
John Harold Byers died on the 17th May 1922 at the age of 24.[7] From the research I have done on John, I have worked out that he was a great soldier who served very well for his country. He was just 18 years old when he enlisted and this was half way through the war. He shows ANZAC spirit because even after being gassed during the war, he came back and fought for longer, for his people. He would have shown lots of mateship to his fellow soldiers. ANZAC soldiers possessed lots of qualities including courage, ingenuity, good humour and mateship.[8] I am sure that John Harold Byers had all of these qualities. The reason for his untimely death is unknown to me, but I am sure his family was sad when he passed. John’s place of burial is at the AIF Cemetery on West Terrace in South Australia.
[1] AIF
[2] National Archives
[3] Tripod
[4] National Archives
[5] Australian War Memorial
[6] National Archives
[7] National Archives
[8] Australian War Memorial
Bibliography
AIF 2016, Canberra, accessed 22 February 2018, <https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/search>.
Australian War Memorial 2016, Canberra, accessed 26 February 2018, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10710300>.
RSL 2016, accessed 21 February 2018, <https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/rslvwm/comfy/cms/files/files/000/001/004/original/ResearchProfile_WWI.pdf>.
National Archives of Australia 2016, accessed 26 February 2018, <https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=3178306&isAv=N>.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission 2018, accessed 28 February 2018, <https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx>.
National Library of Australia 2015, accessed 26 February 2018, <https://trove.nla.gov.au/?q&adv=y>.
State Library of South Australia 2015, accessed 21 February 2018, <http://www.catalog.slsa.sa.gov.au/search/X>.
Pearson History 9 2012, Pearson Australia, Melbourne, accessed 6 March 2018, <https://reader-sin-prod.gls.pearson-intl.com/readBook>.
Click images to start slideshow.