BOAK, Alexander John
| Service Number: | 2340 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 12 July 1915, Ballarat, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 24th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Buninyong, Victoria, Australia, 1893 |
| Home Town: | Buninyong, Ballarat North, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Yendon State School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 3 May 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux, Departement de la Somme, Picardie, France, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 12 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2340, Ballarat, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Sep 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2340, 24th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Osterley embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 29 Sep 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2340, 24th Infantry Battalion, RMS Osterley, Melbourne | |
| 3 May 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 2340, 24th Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (Second), --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2340 awm_unit: 24 Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-05-03 |
Alexander John "Jack" Boak
Alexander John "Jack" Boak was born in Buninyong, Victoria 1893. 1st son to Alexandra Campbell Boak and Ellen Robinson. Alexander known to the family as "Jack" attended the Yendon Primary School, there he would travel to school by horse.
He moved to Yendon when he was 19 and was working as a labourer
At the age of 22, a young man working as a farming laborer, standing tall at 5ft 4 inches and like many a young man he answered the call for duty. Enlisting on the 19th July 1915 with the Australian Imperial Force. Private, Service Number 2540, Ballarat, Victoria.
He was the first son of Alexander Campbell and second brother to enlist with brothers Leslie Campbell enlisting 6 months prior in January 1915 and William James who enlisted in October 1916. His father Alexander Campbell also enlisted in October of 1916 at the age of 44.
The 24th Battalion was raised in a hurry. The original intent was to raise the fourth battalion of the 6th Brigade from the "outer states", but a surplus of recruits at Broadmeadows Camp in Victoria lead to a decision being made to raise it there.
September 1915 he embarked aboard the RMS Osterley, Melbourne and went ashore at Gallipoli. Alexander and the 24th Battalion spent the next 16 weeks sharing duty in the Lone Pine trenches with the 23rd Battalion. The fighting at Lone Pine was so dangerous and exhausting that battalions rotated every day.
Alexander was a Machine Gunner, and after only week in the field he was admitted to Hospital in France before being discharged back to duty. He then fell and broke his right ankle in November and was taken by the Ambulance Road Train to France, then to the war hospital at Rouen.
In December 1916 he was discharged and deployed to the base depot and rejoined his 24th Battalion in January 1917. In March of that same year he was promoted to lance Corporal, then temporarily promoted to Corporal.
In May 1917 the battalion participated in the successful, but costly, second battle of Bullecourt. It was involved for only a single day ' 3 May ' but suffered almost 80 per cent casualties. Alexander is listed as "Missing in Action", later changed to "killed in Action" during a torrid day in the battlefield on the 3rd May 1917.
His life tragically cut short at the age of 24 to the battlefields of Bullecourt WW1.
* Information supplied by Jade Boak (Great Niece of Alexander John "Jack" Boak) Daughter of Leslie Douglas Boak"
Submitted 2 October 2020 by Jade Boak
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