Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

James Jermyn Kemp (Jim or Jimmy) was born on Sunday 18 November 1894 in Warwick Queensland.

He was a brave man who was involved in two of the most dangerous and legendary events of World War 1, that is Gallipoli and the Battle of Beersheba, the Light Horsemen’s daring WW1 cavalry charge.

Jim was a skilled horseman with excellent marksmanship skills. He was also a true Aussie (but not a larrikan) with a very dry and droll sense of humour. And he loved to spin a yarn when it seemed called-for!

Jim’s birth certificate states that he was born at Dragon Street, Warwick on Sunday 18 November 1894 to parents Jermyn James Kemp and Ellen (Chapman) Kemp. His father and mother were both working at the Hermitage, a State-run farm when he was born, but it appears they went into Warwick (possibly for midwifery services) for his birth.

He was the first-born son of ten children, and as a youngster he and his family were living on Cutmore’s farm at Swan Creek, where his father Jermyn James (Snr) worked. After seven and a half years they moved to a newly opened district outside Warwick called Canning Downs Station. It later became known as Junabee. Their property was called Fairstead and it comprised 186 acres of almost all cultivated land.

When he reached school age, Jim was enrolled at the Swan Creek State School which was a six-mile walk (partly through swamp) from the home they had built at Junabee. A school was later built at Junabee and he, together with his brother Alf transferred to that school when it opened in 1904. All of his younger siblings eventually attended the Junabee State School.

Jim was to leave state school around twelve years of age. Dutifully he went straight to work as a Farm Labourer for his father until war was declared in Europe and he enlisted at twenty years of age.

WORLD WAR 1
On 4 August 1914, the British Empire declared war on Germany and her allies. The outbreak of war was greeted with great enthusiasm in Australia and the government of Prime Minister Andrew Fisher pledged his country’s full support to Britain, the mother country. He declared that Australia had agreed to support Great Britain ‘to the last man and the last shilling’ and pledged a force of 20,000 men.

Consequently, voluntary recruitment for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) commenced on 10 August 1914. Great Britain and France declared war on Turkey on 5 November 1914, and Jermyn James Kemp (Jim’s father) returned from England that same month to report that he did not see the conflict ending by Christmas as many had predicted.

As 1915 dawned, Jim was 20 years old. After much discussion with his parents, he enlisted on 25 March 1915 (in Warwick, Queensland) into the 11th Light Horse Regiment, which was being formed for the 4th Light Horse Brigade. He was the first Junabee man to volunteer for service in the AIF and was allocated Dog tag number 1026. His record number was 1247.

Two squadrons of the 11th Light Horse were formed in Queensland and a third in South Australia. The regiment came together for the first time at Fraser’s Paddock Camp, outside Brisbane on 2 May 1915.

Upon enlistment Jim was assigned to the 2nd Light Horse Regiment. He was a horseman and farmer so it was no surprise that he elected to join this unit of the AIF. He trained in Brisbane and was part of A Squadron, which was housed at Enoggera Barracks. The regiment formed and trained as a sub-unit of the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade, and its first deployment sailed from Australia in two contingents in June 1915. Following this, all future deployments would be sent as reinforcements.

Before leaving the country, each group of reinforcements would be given home leave to say farewell to their families and loved ones. Jim returned home in July and, being one of the first volunteers from the Junabee district, was given a large send-off by his parents, family and friends. Jim returned to barracks in early August 1915, and within six weeks the 4th Reinforcements group was preparing to sail. He boarded the HMAT Hymettus in Brisbane on 17 September 1915 along with 39 others.

The Hymettus sailed directly to Alexandria in Egypt and the troops were reunited with their regiment, which had however, by that time, been disbanded due to mounted infantry being of little use in the current conflict in Gallipoli. The 11th LHR undertook training as infantry and were then split up to reinforce the three light horse regiments that were already ashore on the Turkish peninsula.

GALLIPOLI
The Queensland-based A Squadron, of which Jim was a part, was assigned to the 2nd LHR and was landed on Gallipoli on 13 November 1915. Jim spent his 21st birthday there on 18 Nov 1915, five days after landing on Gallipoli. He remained on Gallipoli for six weeks, under constant fire and bombardment. Note that the Battle of Lone Pine (also known as the Battle of Kanlı Sırt) between Australian and Ottoman Empire forces had already been fought between 6 and 10 August 1915, with Turkish forces winning that battle.

The Allies made the decision to abandon their positions over five days from 15 to 20 December 1915 which resulted in a stunningly successful withdrawal, stealing some glory from this disastrous and ill-planned episode in ANZAC history. 20,000 Allied troops are evacuated off Gallipoli but prior to this withdrawal 8709 men had died and 26,111 were wounded.

So, Jim was evacuated from Gallipoli (with the 2nd LHR) back to Alexandria where the regiment was rested for 2 months. However, on 18 January 1916, Jim was admitted to the hospital in Abbassia, Cairo with mumps. Following his discharge, he rejoined his original regiment (11th LHR) and was posted to Heliopolis (the ancient capital of Egypt) where they returned to their mounted role and began training for the defence of the Suez Canal.

Jim’s rank was changed to that of Driver on 28 March 1916, no doubt because of his experience with managing horse teams back on the farm at Junabee. While equivalent to the rank of Private, a Driver was charged with the responsibility of driving horse teams which pulled guns and stores to support the front-line troops. Each Light Horse squadron had seven men designated as Drivers. Jim undertook this new role as the regiment was posted to Tel El Kebir as the staging point for the defense of the Suez.

Driving the ammunitions wagon was a particularly dangerous mission as it drew heavy gunfire and shelling from the enemy, being a much sought-after target. Jim’s family felt that Jim had been a sniper during World War 1, and given his superior shooting skills (particularly with a rifle) and the fact that he survived under heavy bombardment as a driver in the Middle East leads many to believe that he probably was.

On 1 July, the regiment entered Moascar on the Suez and over the ensuing months the 11th LHR conducted patrols and participated in several forays out into the Sinai Desert. In April 1917, the regiment moved into Palestine to join the main British and dominion advance. Here they joined their first major battle on 19 April when the regiment attacked dismounted, as part of the ill-fated Second Battle of Gaza.

On 10 August 1917 the 11 LHR were posted back to Port Said for rest. After only ten days the regiment returned to the Palestinian town of Al-Fukhari on 20 August 1917, where plans were afoot for a third attack on Gaza. While the two previous frontal attacks had failed, the next attempt to capture this Turkish bastion was to be a wide outflanking move via the town of Beersheba.

THE BATTLE OF BEERSHEBA
General Allenby’s battle order was issued on 22 October, the general plan being that General Chetwode was to attack Beersheba from the south-west, while General Chauvel, with two divisions of Desert Mounted Corps, would assault the town from the east and north-east. The combined attack was scheduled to take place on 31 October, however a deteriorating tactical situation late on the first day of the planned operation resulted in the 11th’s two sister regiments, the 4thand the 12th, being unleashed in a full-frontal attack on Beersheba at the gallop.

The 11th (of which Jim was a part) was engaged in flank protection duties three kilometres south-west of their position, however they were ordered to follow the 4th and 12th in reserve, accompanied by the 5th and 7th mechanized Battalions which would provide artillery support for the charge. The 11th proceeded into Beersheba by 7.30 pm, after which the 4th Machine Gun (MG) Squadron arrived. A complete chain of outposts was then established while the main body of prisoners were taken back to Brigade Headquarters.

It is suggested that the sheer audacity of the charge may have been related to the fact that the horses were exhausted from an absolute lack of water and taking Beersheba would assure them of a drink at last. The Australian Light Horse had successfully charged the Turkish positions and subsequent hand-to-hand fighting pushed the Allies through the Turkish held Gaza-Beersheba line to enable them to seize the strategic town of Beersheba.

Following the fall of Gaza on 7 November 1917, Turkish resistance in southern Palestine collapsed, and the 11th LHR participated in the pursuit that followed. The regiment then spent the first months of 1918 resting and training before moving into the Jordan Valley in time to participate in the Es Salt raid (between 29 April and 4 May 1918).

On 17 June, Jim was moved back to the Port Said rest camp for 14 days. He returned to the line on 1 July 1918, and the regiment continued training for the next offensive. In August, the troopers were issued with swords and trained in traditional cavalry tactics. Prior to this, the light horse was essentially mounted infantry who would make use of their bayonets in a mounted charge.

Their next engagement was launched against the Turks along the Palestine coast on 19 September 1918. This was followed by a mounted charge with swords on the town of Semakh on 25 September where, having broken the town’s outer defences, the regiment then cleared the town itself on foot with rifle and bayonet. Semakh was the regiment's last major operation of the war.

On 1 October 1918 the 10th Australian Light Horsemen were the first Allied forces to enter Turkish-controlled Damascus and the city formally surrendered. Shy of one day to the year that Beersheba had fallen to the Light Horse Brigade, the Armistice of Mudros brought an end to fighting in the Middle Eastern theatre of WW1. On 1 November 1918 Australian servicemen start returning home via troopships. Germany signed the Armistice on 11 November 1918 and fighting ceased on the Western Front.

More than 300,000 Australians (from a population of less than five million) served in World War 1. For Australia, the cost was high – at the end of hostilities on 11 November 1918, a total of 61,513 Australians had died and 152,000 were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner.

GOING HOME
Back in Queensland in this same year, Jim’s war service had not gone unnoticed by a grateful Glengallen Shire. They paid tribute to him on a scroll they presented to him (in his absence) on 10 January 1918.

After hostilities ceased on 30 October 1918, the regiment was required to return to Egypt to wait for transport back to Australia, but in fact were subsequently called back to operational duty to quell the Egyptian revolt that erupted in March 1919. Order was restored in little over a month, so on 1 May 1919 Jim boarded the Malwa at Port Said and sailed to England on a granting of leave, to visit his grandmother Sarah Christmas and her family.

Note – Sarah’s son and Jim’s half-uncle, Walter Christmas served in the 49th Battalion, AIF but died on 6 May 1918 from wounds received in the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. He is now buried in the Longpre-les-Corps Saints British Cemetery in Somme, France.

Jim stayed with Sarah and her husband Robert for several days before heading back to London to secure early passage on a steamer back to Australia. Finally, he was able to get passage on 7 July 1919, on board the SS Chemnitz, a German passenger ship which had been surrendered to Britain earlier in the year. After a journey of over two months, Jim disembarked in Sydney on 8 September 1919 from where he was transported to the AIF depot.

Eventually Jim made his way by train back to Brisbane where he was officially discharged on 9 October 1919. His final rank was officially listed as Private and he was 24 years and 11 months old.

Later that same day, Jim travelled back to Warwick with other returning soldiers on a troop train from Brisbane. The returnees were welcomed at the railway station by the Mayor of Warwick and the local member of parliament.

During the next week he was presented with a gold medallion from the grateful community of Junabee. The Warwick Daily News reported that at a special meeting of the Junabee branch of the Queensland Farmers Union (Q.F.U.) on Wednesday 17 September 1919, “a very large and representative gathering assembled in the Junabee Hall to welcome home three gallant lads who had recently return from overseas. They were Sergt. W. S. Jarvie, Trooper Kemp, and Private Crisp. Mr Staff made the presentations and congratulated the men themselves and their parents and friends upon their safe return”.

Jim had served for four and a half years in the Light Horse, and over that period had not been wounded. For his service he received the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and later in 1967, the Anzac Commemorative Medallion for his service at Gallipoli.

James Jermyn Kemp’s service to his country is perpetually honoured on the gates to Leslie Park at the entrance to Warwick’s war memorial.

On his enlistment documents Jim had recorded his mother Ellen Kemp as Next of Kin, and so during active service all his deferred pay went into her bank account on his behalf. Consequently, within two years of his return from the war in October 1921, he was able purchase a 100-acre farm that was adjacent to his parent’s farm in Junabee.

Eight years after his return he married a local school teacher, Annie Henrietta Jensen and they moved into a new house Jim had built on their farm Chez Nous. Together they had two children, James Robert (Bob) and Anne who in turn each had eight children. Over the course of his life he particularly loved his 16 grandchildren and that love was reciprocated by all of them.

Jim was unable to continue with farm work in his later years so early in 1970 he took up residence at Akooramak, a retirement home in Warwick. However, after three years there Jim became seriously ill and so was taken to Warwick Base Hospital where he passed away peacefully on Sunday 26 August 1973 aged 79 years.

After the funeral service at St Marks Anglican Church in Warwick, Jim was buried beside his wife Annie at Warwick Cemetery.