Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

According to the Roll of Honour Circular completed by his father, John Fielding had been born in Boonah in 1893. By the time he was ready to attend school, his father who was a school head teacher had transferred to Bald Hills and it was there that John began his education. His father also reported that John had trained as a teacher, probably under the pupil teacher scheme. By the time that John enlisted in October 1914 however, he stated on his attestation papers that he was the Clerk of Petty Sessions, presumably at the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

John epitomised the stereotype of those first recruits into the AIF. He was 21 years old, single and six feet tall. He gave his address as Bald Hills and the address of his next of kin, his father Thomas, as State School, Sherwood. John was drafted into the 15th battalion as a private on 26th October 1914.

The 15th battalion was commanded by Lt. Col. W. H. (Bull) Cannan, a career officer with the Citizens Forces before the war, and a man with strong connections to the Sherwood District The 15th Battalion was primarily composed of Queenslanders with one company being Tasmanians. The remainder of the 4th brigade was made up of a battalion from NSW (13th Btn), a battalion from Victoria ( 14th Btn which was later known as Jacka’s mob after its most decorated soldier, Albert Jacka who won a VC at Lone Pine and a MC at Pozieres), and a combined West Australian / South Australian battalion (16th Btn). Given that the brigade was made up of such widely distributed units, training in their home states was cut short and the brigade assembled in Melbourne under the Brigade Commander John Monash before embarking on the “Ceramic” for Egypt on 22nd December 1914.

The battalion arrived in Egypt on 3rd February 1915 and went into camp at Heliopolis outside Cairo. The first contingent of Australians had been in Egypt for two months and had been formed into an Australian Corps. The later arrivals were combined with a number of New Zealand units into a second corps, which was given the telegraphic code “ANZAC”. Training in the desert continued through February and March. On the 12th April 1915, the 4th Brigade travelled by train to Alexandria where they boarded a transport bound for Mudros Harbour on the island of Lemnos. The troops of the 15th remained on board their transports, practising boarding boats and horse barges.

The landing on the beach at Gallipoli began at 4:40am by troops of the 3rd Brigade. The 4th Brigade did not begin landing until 5:00pm; by which time the Australians had advanced to the second ridge.

Monash took his brigade up a deep gully, which was later named Monash Valley, towards a precarious position at the head of the gully which would eventually be named Quinn’s post after the commander of C Company of the 15th. Quinn’s Post was the furthest position occupied on the first day and remained so throughout the campaign. The trenches at Quinn’s were right on the edge of an escarpment and only a few metres from the Turkish positions. Any counter attacks mounted by the Turks would be aimed at Quinn’s.

It was reported that on 30th April, John Fielding was killed at Quinn’s Post. Reports indicate that the Reverend Wray officiated at the burial. Standard procedure in notifying next of kin was for a telegram to be sent to the Commanding Officer of the nearest Military District who would then arrange for a clergyman to inform the relatives. Since John had listed his religion as Methodist, this task probably fell to the Minister at the Sherwood Methodist Church.

The Australian military authorities were unprepared for the casualties that resulted in the first weeks at Gallipoli. The process of providing certificates of death was chronically delayed. Soldier’s estates could not be finalised until death certificates were issued, particularly if the soldier had not made a will (which John Fielding had not). In an effort to resolve the matter Thomas Fielding engaged Morris, Fletcher and Stevens Solicitors (Later Morris, Fletcher and Cross) to deal with the authorities. John’s file in the National Archives contains numerous items of correspondence relating to the winding up of his estate and the distribution of his deferred pay. Almost a year after his death, John’s father received two parcels of his son’s personal effects, some photographs, a cardboard box and an Identity disc. In 1915, procedures had not been put in place to photograph graves as occurred later in the war. For many of the families of those killed at Gallipoli, the resting place of their loved ones remained a mystery.

At the conclusion of the war, the Australian government sent a team of war grave investigators to Gallipoli to consolidate burials into cemeteries and to provide permanent headstones. Although records indicated that John Fielding had been buried at Quinn’s Post, by 1921 no trace of his remains was located. Instead a headstone was placed in the Quinn’s Post cemetery with the inscription “Believed to be buried in this cemetery”.

Thomas Fielding, who had advised that his address was now Thallon Street, Sherwood, received John’s Medals; the 1914/15 Star, The Empire Medal and the Victory Medal as well as a memorial scroll and a memorial plaque.

Courtesy of Ian Lang

Mango Hill

John Howard Fiedling was the older brother of my maternal grandmother. As a younger person, my grandmother .. 'gran' would recall his death with great sadness.  John, like many in the Fielding family was a teacher learning and praticing his trade in Brisbane Queensland.  I can't attest to his character although I'm confident, like my grandmother, that he was humble, stoic and very competent.  Many of our family have visited his headstone at Quinn's Post, Gallipoli.  His headstone records 'Greater love hath no man than to give his life for another' which reflects his Christian (Methodist) faith.  God Bless you Uncle John.  Rest in Peace.