Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John Joseph Williams was born in Clifton an area close to Austinmer, NSW on 27th May 1886. As a young child, John had both the measles and scarlet fever. Scarlet fever caused John to lose half of his hearing. However, John didn’t let his partial deafness deter him and he excelled at sport and made a name for himself in cricket and soccer.

When John was 22, he married Clara Marshall at St Joseph’s Church in Bulli on the 3rd June 1908. John and Clara settled happily into their life where John was a coal miner by trade and when John was 23, their first child was born on 6th October 1909. His name was Clement. Three years later, Clara gave birth again on 16th May 1912, this time to a little girl by the name of Irene.

Two years after Irene’s birth, the threat of war seemed imminent. Australia had only been independent from England for 13 years when German troops invaded Belgium on 4th August, 1914. The German army had invaded Belgium in order to get to France. The Imperial German Army were an extremely powerful force of over 4 million soldiers and were well trained. Germany soon declared war on Russia and France. The United Kingdom in turn declared war on Germany. Australia, like other Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand, India and Canada willingly joined the war to assist “the mother county” as England was often called.  Other countries also joined the fighting and soon, World War 1 was upon us.

Australia was a very young country with a total population of a mere 4 million people. Because we were such a young country, Australia’s small army, the Army Reserves could not, by law, serve in a war overseas.  So the Australian government had to form a new army to serve in the Great War, the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). The AIF would be entirely made up of volunteers.

At first, many Australians wanted to join the war effort. But the number of enlistments dropped off within 12 months. The population of willing men had all joined by the end of 1915. Australia was desperate to send more men to the frontlines of the war in Europe.

Meanwhile in 1915 when John was 29, he and Clara welcomed another baby girl into the family. Her name was Elvie. John was no doubt taking notice of the news that all other Australians were. The population of willing men to join the war continued to dwindle. Long lists of deaths reported in daily newspapers from Gallipoli and the Western Front in France no doubt added to the low recruitment. Like many young men at the time, John would have felt conflicting emotions. Do I leave my young family and join the war effort, like many men my age have done.? Will my hearing problems place my life in danger if I can’t hear the enemy approaching?

By now, the Australian government was growing desperate to recruit more men. Recruitment marches began in earnest throughout Australia and in December 1915 a group of men called The Waratahs left Nowra, NSW on 30 November 1915. Many other towns throughout our country had similar marches. As The Waratah march went through each town, hundred of locals came out to cheer them on and young men were asked to enlist in the AIF.

Many recruiting posters were also used to help convince more young men to take up the call of duty. Keep in mind, there were no tours of duty where a soldier might be gone for 6 or 12 months. Australian soldiers during the First World War had to serve for the entire duration of the war, which could mean years away from home. So the recruitment posters were almost imploring men to join the war.

John had made up his mind and he made the very difficult decision to join the war effort. One month later, on 17th Jan 1916, John completed his enlistment papers and he said goodbye to his wife Clara and his little children: six year old Clement, three year old Irene and six month old Elvie. Soon he began attending basic military training in Liverpool NSW, learning about drills, military commands and the use of machine guns. Shortly afterwards, John sailed with other members of the AIF and arrived at a military training camp at Tel El Kebir, on the edge of the Egyptian desert, 110km north east of Cairo, in the heat of the northern summer of July 1916. Temperatures were scorching hot in the desert heat, yet the ANZAC soldiers were soon learning about trench warfare and preparing themselves for the oncoming battles. After two months of training in the desert heat, John and other members of the 30th Battalion were soon ready for battle. John left Egypt and embarked on his troop ship and sailed to France, a trip which took one month.

John's reinforcement group arrived at the Western Front in August 1916 and he joined his Battalion in the trenches near Fromelles in France. He had been spared the costly and unsuccessful attack his battalion had made at Fromelles in July, but he was with his Battalion at the Battle of the Somme in September of 1916.

On top of the relentless fighting and warfare, our ANZACs had to endure extremely difficult conditions. The weather in France turned bitterly cold and John endured days and nights of freezing conditions. In fact, it was the most severe winter weather in nearly 40 years. To make matters even worse, the ground became so waterlogged it turned into a muddy quagmire that was almost impassable.

The rains that fell throughout October and November were followed by almost continuous frost and snow, which seemed torturous to many, especially Australian soldiers like John who had never experienced such extremely cold weather. It was nearly impossible for John to keep his feet dry without the use of extra socks or boots. Soon, John developed a severe case of Trench Foot. He was evacuated to England and hospitalised in London on 2nd December 1916. Trench Foot killed an estimated 75,000 British troops in WW1 and a telegram was sent home to Clara to let her know the seriousness of John’s situation.

In addition to this, John’s hearing problems became severe. Possibly due to the infection in his body caused by Trench Foot, John noticed while he was in hospital, that fluid started coming out of his ears and this continued for many days. This became so severe that it caused more hearing damage and at the start of March, 1917 John was having great trouble hearing even normal conversations around him. Sadly, by July 1917, John was completely deaf.

Finally, after seven months, John was released from hospital. The doctor in charge of the London Hospital wrote on John’s file that he was permanently unfit and must be discharged back to Australia. But the decision was made to send John back to the front lines. Perhaps it was John who decided to go back to the trenches. You see, John was a stretcher bearer. His mates in his 30 Battalion were enduring relentless German attacks every day and a stretcher bearer often meant the difference between his mates dying on the battlefield, or having a fellow soldier like John carry you to safety and to then receive medical attention.

John would have witnessed first hand how many of his mates were being killed or injured at this time. 1917 was the most devastating year in Australia’s history, in terms of lives lost overseas. It was without a doubt, the costliest year. Australia lost as many men in 1917 as we had in the first three years of fighting combined – almost 22,000 men were killed. It was by far, the year of the Australia’s heaviest death toll. That’s not just the costliest of WW1, but of all time. This record still stands today. Twenty per cent of all Australia’s deaths in wartime, happened in 1917.

Life as a stretcher bearer was both strenuous and incredibly dangerous, as teams of these men were responsible for the immediate removal of wounded men from the thick of the action. Casualty rates among stretcher bearers were high, as they were unarmed and often performed their duties while under direct fire.

As a stretcher bearer, John and his team would have to run unprotected, straight onto the battlefield to pick up the wounded and dying, then struggle back to their own trenches under fire from German snipers. How difficult must that have been for John, who was unable to hear if a German soldier snuck up behind him, or to hear the sound of a grenade that had been thrown or to be able to hear where a sniper was firing from or even a warning shout from others around him? Hopefully, John could rely on his previous years of athletic training in Woonona and Bulli to help him with the dangerous and physically exhausting role of a stretcher bearer.

At the start of October 1917, John and his 30th Battalion were sent to Passchendaele in Belgium. The fighting was extremely intense and thousands of men were injured or killed. Like thousands of others, John was no doubt in the main theatre of the First World War. The Western Front, a battlefield half the size of Tasmania, was the only place the war could be won. And what happened on the Western Front changed John’s life, forever changed Australia, and the world.

Between 4 and 13 October 1917, over 2600 men on stretchers were moved from the front line. That is 288 injured men needing to be carried on stretchers every day. Stretcher-bearers faced an almost impossible task of carrying these men to regimental aid posts, dressing stations and sometimes the distant casualty clearing stations.

It took stretcher-bearers three days to clear the field of wounded men after the opening attack at Passchendaele. Four men would carry a stretcher the 5 kms to safety — a trip that took them about four hours.

On one of those days, John and his team carried the wounded continuously for 36 hours in spite of heavy gunfire and bombing. There was virtually no rest. Soldiers who were wounded would write in their diaries about how they were rescued by stretcher-bearers who came under heavy fire from shells and gas canisters, and then waded through mud or shell craters to move them away from the worst of the battle.

There is no doubt that John would have been completely exhausted on the 10th October, 1917 when he and his team ran out once again to help the wounded and the fallen. Unfortunately, this was John’s final rescue. While running out to help, John was shot and killed by gun fire, while stretcher bearing. John Joseph Williams, so brave and courageous with everything to live for, took his last breath on the battlefield at the age of just 31. Like many others, John’s remains were hastily buried on the battlefield and his body was never recovered after the war. John was one of 17,000 Australians killed in the First World War whose final resting place is unknown.

It took six weeks for the news of John’s death to reach his family in Woonona. His family initially believed John had been killed at the Battle of Polygon Wood as evidenced by the messages his family published in the local newspaper. However, they were to learn that John’s passing occurred a week later during the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium.

A few weeks later, John’s wife Clara received John’s possessions, including a military chain and badge, a rosary, a Bible and a prayer book, cards and a note book.

The local community rallied around Clara. A War Widow’s house was built for Clara, Clement, Irene and Elvie in John Street, Woonona in 1919. The house was constructed by the local people of Woonona to support Clara and her young children. This home was the first built under the guidance and financial support of the Woonona Bulli RSL Sub Branch.

Australia paid a very heavy toll from the war. Nearly 40% of Australian men aged between 18 and 44 enlisted in the First World War. It was the costliest war in Australia’s history in terms of casualties, with over 60,000 men killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. That is a staggering amount of lives lost for such a young country and nearly all of this occurred on the Western Front.

John’s name can be found at the Menin Gate Memorial to the missing in Belgium. This is a place to remember soldiers who were killed in World War 1 and who lie in an unknown grave. In Australia, John’s name can also be found at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra at the Roll of Honour. It can be reached by walking past the names of the thousands of others who have given their lives in the service of our wonderful country where we can live our lives in freedom. John’s name is also memorialized on the Woonona Bulli RSL War Memorial.

That same house on John Street Woonona was the house John’s family continued to live in for generations. John’s picture continued to hold a special place in the living room, perhaps to remind his young children of what their father looked like. They were so young when their handsome father went off to war to never return.

John Joseph Williams gave up his life to save another’s life. He died aged only 31, a true hero and a man who endured great hardship and suffered the ultimate sacrifice. The Bible tells us that greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Thank you, John Williams for your incredible courage and great sacrifice in the service of our wonderful country. May your name live forever more. Lest we forget.

"...3339 Private John Joseph Williams, 30th Battalion, of Woonona, NSW. A miner before enlisting on 17 January 1916, Pte Williams embarked from Sydney on HMAT Hororata on 2 May 1916 with the 7th Reinforcements. He was killed in action at Polygon Wood on 10 October 1917, at the age of 31." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)