S3359
MARKS, John Reginald
| Service Number: | 6081 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Birmingham England, date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway porter |
| Died: | 30 September 1976, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia |
| Memorials: | Adelaide South Australian Railways WW1 & WW2 Honour Boards |
World War 1 Service
| 12 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 6081, 10th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ballarat embarkation_ship_number: A70 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 6081, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ballarat, Adelaide | |
| 5 May 1917: | Honoured Military Medal | |
| Date unknown: | Wounded 6081, 10th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour John Reginald Marks'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 Reginald Marks
Life Before the War
John Reginald Marks was born in 1908 in the city of Birmingham, England. He later moved to Australia and lived in the suburb of Norwood, South Australia with his mother, named Harriet Hodson. His religion was The Church of England. He was a single man aged 18 years old when he enlisted, before this he was a railway porter. John has enlisted in military before however, he spent two and a half years of cadet training during school. During this training you would learn about marching and even if of age, would learn how to fire a rifle.
Life in Service
When war broke out John was only 16 years of age, so he decided to wait until 18 where he enlisted in South Australia on the 14th of June 1916. He would later serve in the 10th battalion, 19th reinforcement. John and his unit embarked from Adelaide, on board HMAT A70 Ballarat on the 12th of August 1916. John never proceeded in changing his battalion.
John was a very good soldier as he never went AWL (absent without leave) and stuck to his training. However, he was wounded in action at Polygon Wood on the 20th of September 1917, from gas poisoning. He was sent to a hospital in Edgbaston. He stayed in hospital from the 27th of September, 1917 and returned from hospital on the 21st of December 1917. This wound basically ended his military world war 1 career as he was sent back to England.
The battle of Polygon Wood
On the 24th of September, 1917 the men of the Fifth battalion prepared for their first major battle in Belgium. Johns battalion, the 10th battalion arrived at the battle and unfortunately this is the time and place where John Reginald Marks was wounded.
Displayed above is an image of the troops of the 10th battalion moving into position for the attack on Zonnebeke on the 25th of September 1917. However, John was not the only wounded in total there were 5,770 Australian casualties. (Australian War Memorial. 2017. Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/military-event/E153/.)
As John was an infantry man he would begin basic training that consisted of drill and shooting practice. He would then be sent into battle wherever they infantry’s needed reinforcements. An infantry man was your average soldier of world war 1. They would be amongst the action, in the front line trying to eliminate all of the opposition.
However, John was not an ordinary infantry man, he was a runner. A runner was one of the most dangerous jobs a soldier could have. He had to run across enemy fire to deliver messages from his battalion to others. John Reginald Marks actually won his military medal for this job.
The End of a Military Career
John was a very courage’s and brave soldier; he was awarded a military medal for his work. Here is a snippet of the document explaining his military award. John Marks returned to Australia on the 21st of December 1917. John died on the 30th of September 1976 and was buried at the Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia.
Bibliography:
Australian Goverment . 2017. NAA: B2455, MARKS JOHN REGINALD. Available at: http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.aspB=8207814
Red cross records. Private John Reginald Marks. Available at: http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/sarcib/SRG76_1_4200.pdf.
Australian War Memorial . Australian imperial force unit war diaries. Available at:
https://www.awm.gov.au/images/collection/bundled/RCDIG1003277.pdf.
Wikipedia. 2017. 10th Battalion (Australia) - Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_Battalion_(Australia).
Click images to start slideshow.