HANNA, James Reginald
| Service Number: | 2905 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 September 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 60th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Balmoral, New South Wales, Australia, 8 July 1898 |
| Home Town: | Mittagong, Wingecarribee, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Balmoral Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Killed in action, France, 27 April 1918, aged 19 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Sep 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2905, 60th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Nov 1916: | Involvement Private, 2905, 60th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '20' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: '' | |
| 3 Nov 1916: | Embarked Private, 2905, 60th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Afric, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
James Hanna enlisted as soon as he turned eighteen years of age with the signed permission of his mother. He joined the 60th Battalion in France during July 1917. He was killed in action about a half mile from Villers Bretonneux. His files state that he was hit by machine gun fire when close up to the German wire during a night advance. Although his body was buried close to where he fell, the grave was subsequently lost. His parents included part of a letter on his roll of honour form, "Extract from Lt. J. H. Anderson's C Coy 60th Battalion, AIF - letter. 'During the advance made by our Battalion on the morning of the 27th, your son conducted himself with conspicuous bravery, and the utmost devotion to duty, and when the news became known that he had been killed the sorrow was universal, as he was very popular in our Company'"
James had a brother Lindsay Hanna 54th Battalion AIF, who was captured at the Battle of Fromelles and spent almost two and a half years in a POW camp in Germany before being repatriated back to London a week before Christmas in 1918.
Another brother, William Hanna 30th Battalion AIF, was returned to Australia, medically unfit, in October 1917.