Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

James Wilfred Percival Campbell DAVIS (later known as "Cam") was born in Penrith, New South Wales, on 16th January 1897 to parents Jane (nee BLACKETT) and George Edmund DAVIS.  The fourth born of six children, Cam attended school in Cook's Hill (Newcastle), before the family moved to Newtown, an inner western suburb of Sydney.  He was serving as a Colour Sergeant in the Senior Cadets with the Area 34A Company at Enmore, at the time World War 1 began on 28th July 1914.  Cam also played in the Enmore Senior Cadets football team.

A 17 year old junior porter at Darling Harbour Railway Station, who was still living with his parents in Newtown at the time, Cam accompanied his elder brother Stanley, and put his age up to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force at Randwick, on 22nd August 1914.  They were both allocated to "E" Company of the 1st Infantry Battalion (part of the 1st Infantry Brigade), with Cam having the rank of Private, regimental number 572.  Together, they commenced their recruit training at Randwick Racecourse, where they were billetted in the grandstands.  On 29th August, the 1st Battalion moved to Kensington Racecourse (now the site of the University of NSW campus), where they were to live under canvas and train for the next 6 weeks.  Musketry practises were conducted at the nearby Long Bay Rifle Range.

At 0900hrs on Sunday 18th October 1914, Cam and Stan marched with their Battalion from their Kensington Racecourse training camp down to Circular Quay, where they were taken by ferry to Farm Cove, and embarked aboard HMAT Afric for active service overseas, via Albany.  It was from this point that Cam began to keep a diary of his experiences.  They arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, about 0800hrs on 5th December, where they later disembarked and proceeded to Cairo by train.  The 1st Infantry Battalion arrived at Mena Camp, in the shadow of the pyramids, on 8th December.  They went on their first route march in the blisteringly hot desert sand just 2 days later, and underwent rigorous training there for the next 4 months.

Following a re-organisation of the structure of AIF infantry battalions, the 1st Battalion was changed from eight companies to four on 1st January 1915.  During this process, the men of "D" and "E" Companies formed the new "B" Company, of which Cam and Stan became members.  By the end of March, the 1st Battalion were being exercised in attacks on trenches held by the 2nd Brigade, both day and night, and were going on route marches of up to 16 miles.  On 29th March, the 1st Battalion were inspected by General Sir Ian Hamilton, and on 2nd April, they received orders to prepare for embarkation.

On 5th April 1915, the 1st Infantry Battalion embarked aboard HMT Minnewaska in Alexandria, to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.  After five days of loading up, the ship left Alexandria at 0730hrs on 10th April, and arrived at Mudros Harbour, on the island of Lemnos, two days later.  Here, the Battalion practised embarking and disembarking from boats for three days, before going ashore to further practise attacks with the rest of the 1st Brigade on the 16th.  After again going ashore for a route march and to bathe on the 17th, they continued a routine of working in boats until the 22nd, when windy weather confined them to the ship.  During this time the Battalion commanders had received Operational Order No. 1, and at 0500hrs on the 24th April, the Battalion left Mudros Harbour, with the Minnewaska proceeding to a rendezvous point in the bay to the North of Lemnos.  At 2330hrs that night, the ships carrying the 1st Brigade left the rendezvous, and proceeded to Gallipoli, where the Minnewaska arrived with the 1st Battalion at 0500hrs.

The Battalion commenced disembarkation at 0615hrs, and landed without loss by 0740.  About 0830hrs, the Commanding Officer received orders to send a Company forward, and five minutes later, Cam and Stan's "B" Company were sent on their way.  A letter written by Cam to his father George, which was dated 6th June, and published in the Nepean Times of 14th August 1915 read, "We are out of the trenches for a week's spell - the first spell we have had for six weeks. Roy, Stan and the boys are all near us. On the morning we landed on the beach we had to jump into the water waist-high. We then advanced about three miles on to the right flank; and what a hell we met.  There was shell fire, machine guns and rifle fire on us. We could not return the fire, so had to lay on the ground for five hours.  The bullets and shrapnel simply rained on us; but I never saw a man of us "squib" it all through..." In the same letter, he goes on to mention how bullets went through his water bottle, rifle and his cap, after his Company were sent forward.  The rest of the Battalion arrived to reinforce the firing line by 1000hrs.  The 1st Battalion remained there for the next four days, before being rested for two.

By 2nd May, the 1st Battalion were manning a defensive line alongside two Companies of the 4th Battalion.  Together, they worked at improving and digging new trenches day and night, while coming under continuous unaimed fire from the Ottomans.  This continued until the 5th, when they extended communication trenches on both flanks.  Heavy shelling began on their position on the 6th, and lasted for some hours, also targetting the beach, with much the same the next day.  About 2200hrs on the 9th May, the enemy attacked the 4th Brigade's position, to the left of the 1st Battalion, and the 1st were ordered to open fire.  It was during this action that they suffered the first casualties, with an Officer wounded and three men killed.  The 18th saw two high explosive shells land in their trenches, and a four hour long enemy attack the next day, with heavy losses.

The elder brother of Cam and Stan, who enlisted under the name of Roy George Campbell DAVIS on 14th November 1914 and served for the duration of the War with the 7th Light Horse Regiment, also arrived on Gallipoli (minus their horses) on 20th May 1915.  Cam mentions in his letters and diary that Roy was able to visit them often.  A first cousin of the three DAVIS boys, James Colville BLACKETT, also served on Gallipoli with the 13th Infantry Battalion from the 25th April, but was killed in action at Deadman's Gully on 2nd May 1915.  Four other first cousins of Cam would later serve on the Western Front.

Cam was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal on 20th June, probably in recognition of the leadership experience he'd shown as a result of his Senior Cadets service.  On 25th July 1915, Cam's elder brother Stan was wounded in action at Gallipoli.  In another letter to his father, dated 30th July and published in the Nepean Times of 11th September, Cam wrote, "Stan was wounded a few days back.  He was in a lane behind the firing line when a bomb landed almost at his feet.  He tried to throw a blanket over it when it went off; he had the fingers of the right hand cut pretty badly...Stan has a hope of going back to Australia".  As a result of the explosion, Stan lost one finger on his right hand, and following evacuation eventually had a second one amputated, after sepsis set in.  After spending months in hospital in London, Stan was returned to Australia and discharged as medically unfit on 18th September 1916.

On 6th August 1915, the 1st Infantry Brigade (which consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions) initiated an attack on the Turkish trenches, in what would become known as the Battle of Lone Pine.  At 1600hrs, an Allied bombardment signalled the beginning, with a heavy artillery duel erupting about 1723hrs, resulting in Australian casualties at Brown's Dip.  "A" Company of the 1st Battalion advanced at 1742hrs with bayonets fixed, with "D" then "B" Companies moving forward to reinforce them, about 20 minutes apart.  Under constant fire, they encountered heavily fortified enemy trenches, with thick pine logs dug in over the top of them, which required a determined effort to penetrate.  By 1900hrs, all three of the 1st Battalion companies had consolidated a central position in the captured trenches at Lone Pine, along with the 3rd Infantry Battalion.  At 2000hrs, "C" Company of the 1st Battalion joined them.

At 0537hrs on the morning of Saturday 7th August 1915, the Turks launched a heavy counter attack, with the 1st Battalion sustaining numerous casualties.  It was during this time that Cam was wounded in action, after being struck in the right eye by a Turkish bullet.  He later wrote to his parents in a letter published in the Nepean Times newspaper on 30th October 1915, "I have stopped one at last.  We made a bayonet charge on the 6th August in broad daylight, and captured some Turkish trenches.  The next morning I got a bullet on the side of the face, and I think the right eye is done for...".

Cam was evacuated to the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance in Victoria Gully, and subsequently spent a week in the 21st Australian General Hospital in Alexandria, before being transferred to the King George Hospital in London, England, on 30th August.  As Cam had quickly realised, the bullet that entered the right side of his face had shattered his eye socket, resulting in the loss of that eye.  He remained in hospital until the wound had completely healed.  

Soon after March 1916, the "Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department" (later known as the "Tin Noses Shop" by patients) was opened in the 3rd London General Hospital, where Cam was an early recipient of pioneering work by Mr Francis Derwent WOOD, a British sculptor and leader in his field for making facial prosthetic masks out of hand painted copper sheet, for those disfigured during the War.  By June 1917, Wood's work had warranted an article in the British medical journal, The Lancet, in which he explained, "I endeavour by means of the skill I happen to possess as a sculptor to make a man's face as near as possible to what it looked like before he was wounded.  My cases are generally extreme cases that plastic surgery has, perforce, had to abandon; but, as in plastic surgery, the psychological effect is the same.  The patient acquires his old self-respect, self assurance, self-reliance,...takes once more to a pride in his personal appearance.  His presence is no longer a source of melancholy to himself nor of sadness to his relatives and friends.".  It's estimated that less than 400 masks were made by WOOD and his team, before the closure of the Department in 1919.

Cam embarked in Plymouth, England aboard HMAT Euripides on 24th June 1916, for return to Australia.  He arrived in Sydney on 12th August, and was admitted to the 21st Australian Auxiliary Hospital at George's Heights, where he remained until his discharge as medically unfit on 14th November 1916.  For his service, Cam was later awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, as well as the Silver War Badge with the Discharged Returned Soldier's Badge.  The Sydney Morning Herald of Friday 12th November 1915, on page 5, reported that Lance Corporal J.W.C. DAVIS, of the 1st Infantry Battalion had been Mentioned in Despatches following the Battle of Lone Pine (the profile picture on this page is from that article). 

Although Cam was likely very appreciative of the efforts of Francis Derwent WOOD in making his eye mask, he never felt comfortable wearing it.  He later resorted to wearing a black eye patch for the rest of his life, and would turn with his right side away from the camera, whenever he had his photograph taken.

It was reportedly during a later medical treatment for his War wounds that he met a nurse, Mona Doris Irene BELLAMY, whom he would later marry at St. Stephen's Anglican Church in Newtown, on 30th October 1920.  They had a daughter, Jean Campbell DAVIS, on 1st November 1921.

During the course of 1933, the marriage of Cam and Mona soured, with Mona initiating divorce proceedings in the Supreme Court in Sydney.  The hearing was widely reported in the Sydney newspapers, becoming very acrimonious at times.  A decree absolute was eventually granted in late May of that year.  Their daughter Jean remained living with her mother, and went on to serve in the Royal Australian Navy as a Telegraphist during WW2.

As a means of relaxation, Cam took up sketching with pencils around the late 1920s.  The realism of the human subjects he chose was amazing, especially considering that they were drawn by a man with only one eye.  One particularly poignant sketch he did illustrates his interpretation of the landing of the AIF at Gallipoli, with a giant Spartan warrior standing menacingly above them with his sword and shield, surrounded by flames.  The centre foreground features the image of the George Rayner HOFF bronze sculpture, "Sacrifice", which went on display at Sydney's ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park in 1934.

Throughout the 1930s, Cam lived in one of the two homes owned by his parents in Holt Street, Stanmore, and according to the Electoral Rolls was employed as a weighman, weighing coal.  He moved to Bondi about 1949, where he lived in a room in the Royal Hotel at 283 Bondi Road for the next 17 years.  During that time, he worked as a first aid attendant, and later as a Transport Department employee, and was a regular patron and member of the Bondi Sub-Branch of the Returned Sailors, Soldiers and Airmens' Imperial League of Australia, where he was very popular.  

James "Cam" Wilfred Percival Campbell DAVIS died of bronchopneumonia in the Repatriation General Hospital in Concord, Sydney, on 15th December 1966.  He was 69 years old. His ashes were interred in the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens at North Ryde, Sydney.

Compiled by Karan CAMPBELL-DAVIS (Cam's great niece) from historical records kept by the National Archives of Australia (Service Record); the Australian War Memorial (1st Inf Bn Unit War Diaries); The history of the First Battalion A.I.F. 1914-1919 ; Faces of War by Caroline ALEXANDER from the Smithsonian Magazine of February 2007; various newspaper articles on Trove; Cam's personal Wartime diary; family history research; and information provided by Cam's 1st cousin 1x removed, Mrs Valerie IRELAND (nee BLACKETT), who knew Cam well for more than 2 decades.