KING, James Bruce
| Service Number: | 613 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 February 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 22nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 15 February 1890 |
| Home Town: | Hawthorn, Boroondara, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Commercial Traveller |
| Died: | Wounds, 6th Field Ambulance's Advanced Dressing Station, France, 5 May 1916, aged 26 years |
| Cemetery: |
Erquinghem-Lys Churchyard Extension Plot I, Row J, Grave No. 6 INSCRIPTION QUIT YE LIKE MEN STAND FAST IN THE FAITH AND TRUST IN THE LORD |
| Memorials: | MCC Roll of Honour 1914 - 1918 - Melbourne Cricket Club |
World War 1 Service
| 15 Feb 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 613, 22nd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 May 1915: | Involvement 613, 22nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
| 10 May 1915: | Embarked 613, 22nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne | |
| 5 May 1916: | Involvement Lieutenant, 22nd Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: awm_unit: 22 Battalion awm_rank: Lieutenant awm_died_date: 1916-05-05 |
Help us honour James Bruce King's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Lieutenant King was 26 and the son of James and Sara M. W. King, of 54, Market St., Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Biography contributed by Evan Evans
From How We Served
Lieutenant James Bruce King (Corporal 613) of Hawthorn, Victoria, had been employed as a commercial traveler when he volunteered for 'War Service' on the 15th of February 1915.
.
Allocated to the original 22nd Battalion, 1st AIF, - James was embarked for Egypt, and further training on the 10th of May, and he was with his Battalion when it was shipped to Gallipoli, arriving at the end of August 1915.
James's service in the trenches would be continuous until the general evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsular, following which his unit was returned to Egypt.
James was selected to receive an officer's commission and was dually promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, on the 13th of March 1916, just days before his Battalion was embarked for France, where it arrived on the 26th of March.
The Battalion was sent to a quiet sector of the front line so as to get acclimatized to conditions on the Western Front. It was during this initial period, that James was mortally wounded by shrapnel which struck him in the spine, on the 15th of May 1916, and he was evacuated for medical aid.
James died of wounds whilst still at the 6th Field Ambulance's Advanced Dressing Station, on the same day, and was laid to rest, close by within the Erquinghem churchyard cemetery. He was aged 26 at the time of his death.
Back home in Australia the grieving family of Lieutenant James King had his supreme sacrifice made during the 'Great War' whilst serving with the 1st AIF privately commemorated at the King family's collective burial site within Boroondara (Kew) General Cemetary, Victoria.
Click images to start slideshow.