Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Joseph Tinsley Sutton (Jim) COOPER #1626 25th Battalion

Jim Cooper was born at Tapu in New Zealand, the son of Samuel and Christina Cooper of Port Fitzroy, Great Barrier, Auckland. He attended school at Okiwi. At the age of 22, Jim went to Brisbane where he worked as a labourer, although his mother described his occupation as “bushman.” It is quite likely that he was working in one of the sawmills around Moore at the time of his enlistment.

Jim enlisted in Brisbane on 17th May 1915 and was very quickly allocated as part of the first reinforcements for the 25th Battalion. The 25th, which was part of the 7th Brigade of the 2nd Division AIF was in camp at Enoggera preparing to depart for overseas when Jim joined the ranks. On 29th June, the 25th boarded the “Aneaus” at Pinkenba Wharf bound for Sydney and then Suez. The embarkation roll for the 25th lists #1626 Cooper J.T.S. He had allocated 3/- of his 5/- daily rate to his mother in New Zealand.

On 4th August 1915, the battalion disembarked in Suez and marched to a camp at Abbassia where training continued. On 4th September, the battalion boarded the “Minnewaska” at Alexandria and landed at Anzac Cove on 11th September. The situation at ANZAC had changed dramatically since those first mad days in April. After the failed counter attacks by the Turks in May and June and the failed attacks by the Australians during August, the battle had descended into a stalemate. The 7th Brigade was tasked with fatigue and beach party duties with occasional periods in the line at Courtney’s Post for the next two months.

In November, the weather on the peninsula turned bringing flooding rain and snow. The commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Sir Ian Hamilton was sacked, and plans were drawn up for the withdrawal of all British and Dominion forces. On 10th December, Jim was evacuated from Gallipoli by hospital ship to the 15th General Hospital in Cairo suffering from dysentery and pneumonia. For a time he was listed as dangerously ill but he recovered to join his mates in the 25th who had recently arrived back in Egypt after being evacuated from Gallipoli while Jim was in hospital.

The battalions that had been evacuated from Gallipoli formed the core of an expanded AIF which would be deployed to the Western Front. The 25th boarded a ship at Alexandria on 14th March 1916 and landed at Marseilles two days later. They were one of the first Australian battalions to arrive in France. Trains transported the battalion to the Armentieres sector of the front in Northern France. This was a relatively quiet section of the front and the men of the 25th, many of whom had come from farms back home, helped the local farmers with the harvest. Many men wrote home informing family and friends of the comforts afforded them in the “nursery sector”, such as two hot meals a day, drinking water piped to the front line and comfortable dugouts. There was also ample opportunity for men to visit cafes in the rear areas which served a variety of alcoholic beverages. On 6th June, Jim was charged with drunkenness. He got six days field punishment #2. On 28th and 29th June, Jim was part of a successful trench raiding party.

On 1st July, the Battle of the Somme began. The Somme River marked the boundary between the French and British armies. The British “Pals” battalions of Kitchener’s New Army were cut down in swathes as they advanced into the German machine guns. In spite of losses of 60,000 on the first day, Douglas Haig pushed on. The newly arrived Australian divisions would soon be thrust into the Somme battles. On 21st July 1916, the 1st Division AIF was tasked with exploiting a slight wedge that had been forced into the German lines at the village of Pozieres. With the village secure, albeit reduced to rubble, the 2nd Division came into the battle. The objective for the 7th Brigade was a German blockhouse built on the site of a ruined windmill at Pozieres. On the night of 28th/29th July, the 4 companies of the 25th Battalion attacked the first line of trenches for the first time. Survivors of Pozieres told of an unrelenting barrage by artillery which destroyed trenches and buried men or blew them to pieces. Additionally, enfilading machine guns created murderous cross fire.

When the 25th was finally withdrawn from the Pozieres battlefield on 7th August, only 280 men out of a battalion strength of 940 answered the roll. Of the 660 casualties inflicted during that 7 day period, 175 were listed as Missing; one of whom was Jim Cooper. It would take 12 months before a Court of Inquiry on 25th July 1917 determined that Joseph T. S. Cooper has been Killed in Action. Witnesses had described seeing Jim being shot through the heart as he reached the German wire. Jim became one of the many killed at Pozieres with no known grave.

In 1928, Jim’s widowed mother received advice that the remains of two 25th Battalion soldiers had been recovered near Pozieres; one of whom was her son who was identified by an identity disc. The identity disc was returned to Christina Cooper who chose to have the following inscription placed on her son’s headstone in the Serre Road #2 Cemetery:

GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAT TO GIVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS

Today on the sight of the Pozieres battle there is a memorial stone which has the following inscription:

THE RUIN OF THE POZIERES WINDMILL WHICH LIES HERE WAS THE CENTRE IN THIS PART OF THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD IN JULY AND AUGUST 1916. IT WAS CAPTURED BY AUSTRALIAN TROOPS WHO FELL MORE THICKLY ON THIS RIDGE THAN ON ANY OTHER BATTLEFIELD OF THE WAR.