DONALDSON, John Samuel
| Service Number: | 2636 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 July 1915, 1 yr Cadets, 3 yrs Citizen Forces 56 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 21st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Sandringham, Victoria, Australia, February 1894 |
| Home Town: | Kew, Boroondara, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Carpenter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Broodseinde Ridge, Belgium, 9 October 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Kew War Memorial, Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 15 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2636, 21st Infantry Battalion, 1 yr Cadets, 3 yrs Citizen Forces 56 | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Oct 1915: | Involvement Private, 2636, 21st Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Moldavia embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 5 Oct 1915: | Embarked Private, 2636, 21st Infantry Battalion, RMS Moldavia, Melbourne | |
| 9 Oct 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 2636, 21st Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2636 awm_unit: 21st Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-10-09 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From How We Served
2636 Corporal John Samuel Donaldson of Kew, Victora. had been employed as a carpenter, prior to his enlistment for War Service on the 10th of July 1915, then aged 21.
Allocated to reinforcements for the 21st Battalion, 1st AIF, John was embarked for Egypt, departing Melbourne on the 5th of October.
Following his safe arrival John officially joined his Battalion in the desert, whilst they were undergoing training after having been recently evacuated from Gallipoli.
John was shipped to France with the 21st Battalion and entered the trenches of Northern France in May,1916. He would be present for the heavy fighting in the vicinity of Pozieres. and on the 31st of July John received shrapnel wounds to his right thigh. Due to these injuries, he was evacuated back to England for hospitalisation.
Recovering from these wounds, John was sent back to France to rejoin his Unit, and from then on, his service in the trenches would be continuous. This would include having survived unscathed the Second Battle of Bullecourt during May 1917.
John was availed Leave to England from the front during September, following which he rejoined his Battalion just as they were about to be committed to the desperate fighting to come during the' Third Battle of Ypres.'
On the 9th of October,1917 whilst engaged in the ongoing battle to capture Broodseinde Ridge, John was reported as 'Missing in Action', and a subsequent Regimental Court of Enquiry held to determine his final fate, caused him to be re-listed as officially 'Killed in Action'. John had been aged 23 at the time of his death, John's remains would never be recovered and due to having no known grave Corporal Donaldson is instead officially commemorated at the Menin Gate Memorial, which records all those who have no known place of burial in Belgium.
Following the end of the War, Corporal John Donaldson's supreme sacrifice made during the 'Great War' whilst on Active Service with the 1st AIF, would be privately memorialised at the Donaldson's family's collective gravesite within Warringal Cemetery, Victoria.
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