Peter Norman JOHANNSEN

JOHANNSEN, Peter Norman

Service Number: 4807
Enlisted: 13 July 1915
Last Rank: Corporal
Last Unit: 8th Infantry Battalion
Born: Allendale, Victoria, Australia, 1 September 1889
Home Town: Allendale, Hepburn, Victoria
Schooling: Allendale State School, Victoria
Occupation: Railway clerk
Died: Killed in Action, Menin Rd, Belgium, 20 September 1917, aged 28 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 7), Belgium, Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Creswick Allendale Fire Brigade Honour Roll, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient)
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World War 1 Service

13 Jul 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4807, 8th Infantry Battalion
7 Mar 1916: Involvement Private, 4807, 8th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Wiltshire embarkation_ship_number: A18 public_note: ''
7 Mar 1916: Embarked Private, 4807, 8th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Wiltshire, Melbourne
19 Jun 1917: Promoted AIF WW1, Corporal, 8th Infantry Battalion
20 Sep 1917: Involvement Corporal, 4807, 8th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4807 awm_unit: 8 Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-09-20

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Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From Ballarat & District in the Great War

Cpl Peter Norman JOHANNSEN

From memory’s page I’ll never blot
These three little words, forget thee not

It is hard to imagine the sadness behind these simple words that were expressed by a young woman to the man she obviously loved. What is certain is that Ivy Smith would have held her memories of Norm Johannsen for the rest of her life.

The third child of John ‘Jack’ Johannsen and Mary Ann Theresa Keehan, Peter Norman Johannsen was born at Allendale on 1 September 1889. Norm’s father was born at Smythesdale, but his grandparents were both from Germany. His grandfather, Johann Neiman Johannsen, who was born at Flensburg, in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, arrived in Victoria in 1855. He married Catherine Magdalena Christiana Knipnals, who was also a native of Schleswig-Holstein, in 1858. They settled in the Smythesdale district before moving to Allendale near Creswick.

The Keehans, on the other hand, haled from County Clare in Ireland. They were two very different families of divergent faiths and occupations – the Keehans were miners, whilst the Johannsen family ran a carpentry business, which meant that both found ample opportunity for employment on the goldfields of the district.

Young Norm was baptised at the St John’s Anglican Church at Creswick on 7 September 1894, when he had already reached school age. He was educated at the Allendale State School, and performed extremely well. This continued on into his working life. As a young adult Norm was also involved with the Allendale Fire Brigade and showed an active interest in the local military organisations, although he would later state he had no military training.

As one of the elder of ten children, it was apparent that Norm was looked up to by his younger brothers and sisters. He was by nature a cheery individual, but he was also said to have possessed of a ‘very commanding personality.’

By 1914, Norm was living in Hambleton Street in the Melbourne suburb of Middle Park. When war broke out, he was working as a clerk in the Accountant’s Branch at the Spencer Street Railway Station. It was from there that he enlisted on 13 May 1915.

He had developed into a strongly built young man weighing nearly 12½-stone with a chest expansion of 38-inches, although he was only of average height at 5-feet 7¾-inches. The medical officer recorded Norm’s grey eyes, brown hair and fair complexion.

Despite the desperate need for reinforcements, Norm was held back in camp for nearly 10 months. It was obvious that he was showing definite leadership qualities, however, and his first promotion to corporal came on 1 August. He was serving with the 14th Depot Battalion in Ballarat when he was promoted to the senior rank of company quartermaster sergeant.

On 13 January 1916, Norm was posted to the 15th reinforcements for the 8th Infantry Battalion at Broadmeadows Camp. There he quickly made friends with two of his fellow volunteers – Warren Markin, a labourer from Yarrawonga, and Jack Cooper, who had been captain of the Fitzroy Football Club. It was to become the firmest of friendships that would see them share an ultimately unbreakable bond.

When the reinforcements were loaded onboard HMAT Wiltshire on 7 March, Norm’s rank of CQMS was stated to be a “voyage only” promotion. After arriving in Egypt on 3 April, the rank was made permanent as he began serving with the 2nd Training Battalion. Oddly, on 11 April, Norm reverted to the rank of private, but was immediately promoted to sergeant with extra-duty pay. Less than a week later he once again reverted to private, was promoted to corporal and then appointed temporary CQMS with the 2nd Training Battalion. It seems that this was all a paperwork issue, but it was nonetheless confusing.

On 31 May, Norm embarked at Alexandria on HMT Huntsgreen, bound for England. After the transport docked at Plymouth on 12 June, Norm and his mates marched into Durrington Camp.

Inexplicably, this group of reinforcements were held over in England for nearly a year.

Norm, Jack and Warren finally sailed for France on 19 June 1917. They embarked at Southampton and landed in Le Havre early the next day, before marching out to their unit on 21 June. The trio joined the 8th Battalion on 27 June, resting and training behind the lines at Mailly-Maillet on the Somme.

After just three months on the Western Front, Norm Johannsen was dead.

The battalion was in Belgium fighting during the Battle of Menin Road, near Polygon Wood, on 20 September 1917. Norm and his mates were taking part in an advance when a shell from one of their own guns burst over their heads. The explosion killed eight men, including Norm Johannsen, his mates Lance Corporal Jack Cooper and Corporal Albert Warren Markin, along with Privates Vince Mellington and Cliff Smith, both from Corindhap. The men were buried where they fell; the burial was conducted under heavy shellfire and there was no chaplain present and the grave was not marked.

The position had been noted by the battalion specifically as Sheet 28 J14 B and V15 a 4B west of line V15 B 7.9, ‘in the vicinity of Polygon Wood – southwest of the wood – and east of Glencorse Wood.’ Sadly, despite the specific notation, Norm’s final resting place, along with that of his comrades, was never discovered; they were all later commemorated on the walls of the Menin Gate in Ypres.

Back in Allendale, his family received the sad news of Norm’s death on 19 October. At the time, his younger brother Harry was also on active service – as were several cousins, which only added to the fear and stress experienced by the family. On receipt of the news, there was an outpouring of grief for the popular Allendale local. Flags were flown at half-mast at a number of places – most notably, the local Fire Brigade, where he had served before leaving for Melbourne.

The circumstances surrounding Norm’s death were eventually relayed to the family by his own brother, Harry. Jack Johannsen also received a message of sympathy ‘couched in terms of admiration’ from Norm’s platoon officer, who said ‘…the fallen soldier was admired by every man in the battalion from the colonel down. They deeply regretted the death of the three men, who had been together since they first left these shores…’ Their bond was sadly now eternal.

The multiple promotions and demotions of rank eventually led to an investigation being launched in November 1917; the findings were less than satisfactory and created a great deal of confusion in relation to his whereabouts and dates of promotion/demotion. Norm’s final rank was left as corporal.

For Ivy Smith – his ‘loved’ and ‘loving friend’ – nothing further is known. She may have been someone he met after moving to Melbourne. The notices she placed were in the Ballarat Courier, but there were no further clues as to her identity.

Only a promise to never forget.

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