BECKER, Jack
| Service Number: | 2382 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 May 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 45th Infantry Battalion (WW1) |
| Born: | Waterloo, New South Wales, Australia, 1898 |
| Home Town: | Albion Park, Shellharbour, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Albion Park Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Farm hand |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 11 October 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient) |
World War 1 Service
| 17 May 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2382, 45th Infantry Battalion (WW1) | |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 2382, 45th Infantry Battalion (WW1), Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Anchises embarkation_ship_number: A68 public_note: '' | |
| 24 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 2382, 45th Infantry Battalion (WW1), HMAT Anchises, Sydney |
Help us honour Jack Becker's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Jack Becker’s mother died when he was only five years of age, and his father passed away when he was fifteen years of age. He had three siblings and was educated at Albion Park Public School in NSW. Before he enlisted at Kiama, NSW, he had served as a Senior Cadet for 3 1/2 years. He was working as a farmer when he joined the AIF, and gave his age as 18 years and 11 months. Due to his youth, Jack's aunt Mary Morrison wrote a letter giving permission for Jack to enlist. She was also his next of kin on his enlistment paper.
Jack’s older brother, Richard Robert Becker, had died in camp at Cootamundra, from typhoid, aged 23, on Anzac Day 1916, just a few weeks prior to Jack’s enlistment.
Whilst serving in France and Belgium Jack was hospitalised on a number of occasions, suffering amongst other things, scabies and trench foot.
On 11 October 1917 Jack was killed in action at Messines, Belgium.
There is no known grave for Jack; he is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium and on the Albion Park Anglican Church 1914 - 1919 Honour Roll.
His war medals were sent to his married sister, Bessie Naylor.