James Eltham (Jim) BANKS Update Details

Badge Number: S2498, Sub Branch: Melrose
S2498

BANKS, James Eltham

Service Number: 5837
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Sergeant
Last Unit: 11th Light Horse Regiment
Born: Kingston, South East, South Australia, 26 March 1887
Home Town: Melrose, Mount Remarkable, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Rural station manager, then Soldier Settler farm owner from 1922
Died: Heart failure while tending the vegetable garden, Brighton, South Australia, 31 May 1961, aged 74 years
Cemetery: Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia
Memorials:
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World War 1 Service

26 May 1915: Involvement Corporal, 5837, 4th Light Horse Brigade Train, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: ''
26 May 1915: Embarked Corporal, 5837, 4th Light Horse Brigade Train, HMAT Afric, Adelaide
20 Dec 1915: Involvement ANZAC / Gallipoli, Gallipoli … Jim Banks was on the last boat to depart the shores of Gallipoli… Not the last ship, but the last small rowing boat immediately following the end of that campaign. He was with his three best mates, who had originally left Australia together, and then found themselves in Gallipoli, before going on to the Middle East. The four of them then spent the rest of the war there together, when not in hospital with wounds, until it was time to return to Australia via Egypt. However, they then unexpectedly had to remain in Egypt for the Brits in order to keep the lid on that country’s postwar uprising. After fully five years away, amazingly they got back to Australia together with no loss of life other than that of their beloved horses.
11 Nov 1918: Involvement Sergeant, 5837, 11th Light Horse Regiment

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