CHRISTIE, John Robert
| Service Number: | 402 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Fremantle Western Australia, 22 May 1892 |
| Home Town: | Beaconsfield, Fremantle, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Guildford State School, Guildford Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 3 October 1918, aged 26 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bassendean War Memorial, Fremantle 849 Memorial, Guildford State School Honour Roll, Guildford War Memorial, Guildford and District Roll of Honour, Kellerberrin RSL Honour Roll, Kellerberrin War Memorial, Kings Park Western Australia State War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 29 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 402, 28th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 402, 28th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Fremantle | |
| 3 Oct 1918: | Involvement Sergeant, 402, 28th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 402 awm_unit: 28 Battalion awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1918-10-03 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoff Tilley
John Robert Christie was born on 22 May 1892 at Fremantle Western Australia to parents Thomas Christie and Mary Crawford.
John was one of eleven siblings from the marriage with seven sisters and three bothers. Two of his brothers died at infancy.
His parents were married in Scotland in June 1883, emigrating to Australia in the same year arriving in Fremantle where they lived for many years until moving to Guildford.
John attended Guildford State School, where upon leaving school took up farming, he also joined the military cadets serving for about 4 years.
John enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) in March 1915 at Midland Junction. He conducted his training at Blackboy Hill where he was attached to 28 Battalion.
John embarked with C Company from Fremantle in June 1915 disembarking at Suez, Egypt.
In September 1915 the battalion embarked for the Gallipoli Peninsula. On arrival he became sick and was transferred to a hospital ship with influenza. He eventually returned to his battalion in March 1916.
John embarked from Alexandria with the British Expeditionary Force for the Western Front in France where the Battle of the Somme was under way in July 1916.
John was soon in action at Pozieres in the July and August 1916 where was wounded in action with a gunshot wound to his left shoulder in an action at Flers in the November. He re-joined the battalion in late December 1916.
John was promoted to Lance Corporal in December 1916 and then to Corporal in February 1917. He commenced training and was promoted to temporary Sergeant in April 1917 then to Sergeant in May 1917.
He was again wounded in action with a gunshot wound to his heel at the second battle for Bullecourt in May 1917. He was evacuated to England.
On discharge from hospital, he attended further training at the school of musketry at Perham Downs. He proceeded back overseas in October 1917, involved in the third phase of the battle of Menin Road, Belgium.
In April 1918 John with the battalion returned to France involved in the fighting to turn back the Germans in the spring offensive and again in August participated in the offensive pushing the German Army back out of the Somme.
In was on 3 October 1918 that John with the battalion had fought their way to the Beaurevoir Line in an effort to break through the line.
It was in an action near Bellevue Farm when John with his men were advancing up the German trenches when they were stopped by accurate machine gun fire.
It was in this action that John was killed along with a lieutenant and three men.
Sergeant John Robert Christie, service number 402 of 28 Battalion was killed in action on 3 October 1918 at Bellevue Farm, France. He was 26 years of age.
His Honour Plaque plaque at Kings Park is placed alongside Private Bernard Manning Browning and Private Donald Calbert Langley, of 28 Battalion, who served with Sergeant John Robert Christie and died on the same day.
John has no known grave, but it is believed he is buried in the Prospect Hill British Cemetery, France in a grave marked only with “An Australian Serjeant of the Great War”
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