JACKSON, Eric John
| Service Number: | 3558 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 27 September 1915, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 25th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, 31 January 1897 |
| Home Town: | Milton, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Boonah State School, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Carter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 14 November 1916, aged 19 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France (Panel 105 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial)known grave |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ipswich Men and Women of Ipswich WW1 Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 27 Sep 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Brisbane, Queensland | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan 1916: |
Involvement
AIF WW1, Private, 3558, 25th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Kyarra embarkation_ship_number: A55 public_note: '' |
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| 3 Jan 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 3558, 25th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Kyarra, Brisbane | |
| 14 Nov 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3558, 25th Infantry Battalion, 'The Winter Offensive' - Flers/Gueudecourt winter of 1916/17 |
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Eric was born Eric John Haley to his mother Mary Agnus Haley, father not specified. 2 years after his birth, his mother married John William Jackson, who's name Eric then used.
Eric had 7 siblings, one he would never know as she was born the year after his death... the month after he was officially declared Killed in Action - she was named Erica, perhaps in honour of him.
Little is known about his life, records are still being searched for. As a youth his family spent about 15 years in Boonah, Queensland. The family moved from Boonah after his father (step) lost his business in a fire in 1912, moving to Milton in Brisbane Queensland. It is here Eric enlisted with the permission of both parents.
His military record is uneventful. Some minor ailments and an hour's absence from the segregation camp in France, contrary to orders - costing him 28 days pay. Eric marched out to join the battalion on 23 Aug 1916, joining them on the 30th.
On the 18 Nov 1916 he was reported missing as of the 14th Nov. The Court of Enquiry reported him Killed in Action on the 14 Mar 1917.
After being reported missing and then killed, his mother made enquiries of any news on her son, with no satisfaction. He was not found.
While Mary was listed as his next of kin and received Eric's personal possessions, she was not entitled to his medals. As Eric had no spouse or children, the order for his medals was father, then mother.
Eric's father never responded to requests from the Department of Defence on his whereabouts, even though the Department of Defence had accurately traced their whereabouts over the years.
She did not give up and persistently tried to obtain the medals.
Finally in 1934, John William Jackson requested Eric's medals, and Mary received them. It seems so sad that a mother had to wait 17 years for the medals of her beloved lost son.
Eric was obviously very much loved and never forgotten by his mother. She wrote a memoriam to him under the Roll of Honour section of her local newspaper every year on the anniversery of is death, until she died 33 years later. Her prose is beautiful, and an everlasting memoriam to him.
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