MELROSE, John
| Service Number: | 2460 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 May 1916, Place of Enlistment, Bathurst, New South Wales. |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 54th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Grahamstown, New South Wales, Australia, 1 March 1887 |
| Home Town: | Gemalla, Oberon, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Grahamstown and Adelong Public Schools , New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Plate Layer |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 24 April 1918, aged 31 years |
| Cemetery: |
St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 15 May 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2460, 54th Infantry Battalion, Place of Enlistment, Bathurst, New South Wales. | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Nov 1916: | Involvement Private, 2460, 54th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 30 Nov 1916: | Embarked Private, 2460, 54th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Sydney | |
| 8 Jun 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 54th Infantry Battalion | |
| 2 Jul 1917: | Honoured Military Medal, For bravery in attacking enemy "bombers" and forcing them out of position. Medal received by his widow from the Governor-General in Sydney. | |
| 4 Oct 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Corporal, 54th Infantry Battalion | |
| 24 Apr 1918: | Involvement Corporal, 2460, 54th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2460 awm_unit: 54th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1918-04-24 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
John MELROSE,(Service Number 2460) was born in Grahamstown, via Gundagai, in 1886. He spent much of his boyhood around Adelong, where he was later remembered as ‘a fine athlete’. He was employed by the Railways and gave his ‘trade or calling’ as platelayer (track worker) when he enlisted in the AIF at Bathurst in April 1916. He was also described as a platelayer, of Gundagai, in a report in the National Advocate, Bathurst, 16/5/1916, on activities at the Bathurst Military Camp. A report in the Daily Telegraph, 7/5/1918, states that he:
‘…. enlisted from Wallerawang, where he was in the service of the Railway Commissioners, and went into camp at Bathurst’.
Shortly before he left for the war he married Ruby Anderson, daughter of an Inspector (later Commissioner) of the Commonwealth Police.
He was allotted to the 5th Reinforcements of the 54th Battalion. He embarked from Sydney in September 1916 and landed in England in November. He was sent to France in December 1916, and ‘taken on strength’ by his Battalion in February 1917. In June he was made Lance Corporal. On 2nd July 1917 was awarded the Military Medal ‘for bravery in the field’ as a Private. The citation for the award is:
‘In the attack on this Battalion sector on 15.5.1917, in front of REINCOURT, Private MELROSE jumped over the parapet with a supply of bombs and bombed the enemy bombers out of a position on the right flank. The Lewis Gun, of which Private MELROSE was No. 1, was temporarily out of action at the time.
The example of Private MELROSE opened the way for other bombers to follow. Private MELROSE also volunteered for and performed good work in bombing down a sap, at that time held by the enemy. His influence proved a splendid incentive to the other men.’
In October 1917 he was promoted to Corporal, and on New Year’s Eve detached from his unit to return to England for further training.
From 16th January 1918 to 2nd February he attended a course of instruction at the Southern Command Bombing School Lyndhurst, and qualified as ‘1st class’. He was returned to France in April and re-joined his unit on 10th April. On 17th April 1918 he was gassed and sent via the Field Ambulance to the 5th General Hospital at Rouen, where he was admitted on 18th April. He died there of the effects of gas poisoning on 24th April 1918,. He was buried in St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen.
A war pension was granted to his widow. On Australia Day, 1919, having expressed a preference for it to be presented publicly rather than sent privately, she received her late husband’s Military Medal from the hands of the Governor-General in Sydney.
- based on the Australian War Memorial and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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