HARRIS, John Auguste Emile
| Service Number: | 2251 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 2 June 1915, Liverpool, NSW |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 6 October 1899 |
| Home Town: | Waverley, Waverley, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Cleveland Street High School, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gallipoli, 8 August 1915, aged 15 years |
| Cemetery: |
Lone Pine Cemetery, ANZAC Lone Pine Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula, Memorial C.41. |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Jun 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Liverpool, NSW | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Jun 1915: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 2nd Infantry Battalion, 6th Reinforcements | |
| 16 Jun 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2251, 2nd Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Karoola embarkation_ship_number: A63 public_note: '' | |
| 16 Jun 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2251, 2nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Karoola, Sydney | |
| 8 Aug 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 2251, 2nd Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2251 awm_unit: 2 Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1915-08-08 |
WW1
The information provided has been published (2019) in the book titled "The Lost Boys" written by Paul Byrnes. Details of John A E Harris are printed at pages 88 to 99 of this book. Lest We Forget. Rest In Peace.
Submitted 24 August 2022 by Maxwell HILL
LCpl John “Jack” Harris
From Anzac Memorial
#Onthisday in 1915, the 1st Australian Brigade gallantly charged towards the Turkish trenches at Lone Pine, Gallipoli.
Among them was 15-year-old John “Jack” Harris. Harris had arrived the night before the costly feint with the 2nd Battalion reinforcements. He was shot soon after he ascended the parapet into No Man’s Land on his first day in action.
Official correspondence declaring him “Killed in Action” was not released to his family until 10 November 1915.
By the early 1920s, The Harris Family received Jack’s commemorative scroll, memorial plaque and service medals.
They had the scroll framed, but the other objects remained untouched, still wrapped in its original packaging today.
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The Harris collection is on display in the Anzac Memorial’s Centenary Exhibition.
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#anzacmemorial #lestweforget #anzacs #commemoration #remembrance #firstworldwar #ww1 #sydney #sacrifice #gallipoli #lonepine #memorial #museum #exhibition #artefact #thingstodosydney
Submitted 6 August 2019 by Evan Evans
Lance Corporal John Auguste Emile Harris
From Peter Barnes, Australia and NZ in WWI
The photograph on this post is of Lance Corporal John Auguste Emile Harris from Waverley, Sydney, NSW.
He was a clerk before the war. He claimed to be 18 years old when he enlisted in June 1915.
John was killed in action at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, on the 8th of August 1915. He was in the 2nd Australian Infantry Battalion. He was last seen mortally wounded outside a Turkish trench after a charge towards the Turks.
In the two months of his service he had been promoted to Lance Corporal. After the war, his father wrote that John was 15 years and 10 months old at the time of his death.
It has been stated that he is the youngest Australian soldier to die in battle.
Some information and photograph came from the Australian War Memorial.
Submitted 4 April 2019 by Evan Evans
Biography
Killed in Action at Gallipoli, two months shy of his 16th Birthday, the 15-year-old Lce.-Cpl. Harris is considered to be the youngest Australian soldier "killed in action" in the Great War, although another boy soldier 1553 Pte. James Charles Martin (/explore/people/71799), who died from a fever he contracted during his months in the Gallipoli trenches, was one year and three months younger.
Biography contributed by Sue Smith
John Auguste Emile Harris, known as Jack, was born on 6th October 1899 at Sydney NSW, the eldest of 4 children born to his parents Alfred and Camille Harris. His younger siblings were Yvonne, Frank and Yvette. Jack was educated at Cleveland Street High School, Sydney and joined the Senior Cadets rising to a 2nd Lieutenant with the 28th Battalion. His occupation was a clerk.
On 2nd June 1915 Jack enlisted for WW1 with the AIF at Liverpool Army Camp NSW aged 15 but he gave his age as 18. At the time those enlisting who were under 21 had to have their parents consent which Jack’s father gave. Jack is described as being 5ft 5ins tall with a fair complexion, brown eyes and fair hair. His service number was 2251, his rank Private and he was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Battalion 6th Reinforcements, 1st Brigade, 1st Division. For whatever reason Jack had 2 very unusual things happen…after less than 2 weeks of training he was promoted to Lance Corporal and embarked from Sydney on HMAT Karoola on 16th June 1915. He disembarked at Suez, Egypt, on 17th July 1915 and almost immediately was transported to Gallipoli, arriving there at 2am on 6th August to join his unit, just in time to take part in the charge at Lone Pine that happened that same day. Jack was in D Company and was part of the 3rd wave to go over the top at 5.30pm at Lone Pine. The battle raged for 4 days and 2,277Australians were killed, wounded or missing. Jack was one of the missing. His Red Cross files state that he was last seen on 6th August mortally wounded outside a Turkish trench. The eyewitness was a wounded fellow soldier from his unit who lay next to Jack for some time before he himself was carried to the beach for treatment. However, records have not confirmed Jack’s burial. In November 1915 it was officially determined that Jack was killed in action on 8th August 1915 aged 15 years 10 months. He was the youngest soldier from NSW to be killed in action during WW1. One wonders why the date of his death was determined to be the 8th when he was last seen on the 6th mortally wounded.
Jack is commemorated on the Special Memorials located at the Lone Pine Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey. Special memorials commemorate 183 soldiers (all but one of them Australian, most of whom died in August), who were known or believed to have been buried in Lone Pine Cemetery, or in the cemeteries at Brown's Dip.
Jack is also commemorated on panel 32 of the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT and the Waverley Soldiers’ War Memorial located in Waverley Park on the corner of Bondi Road and Park Parade, Bondi NSW.
Early in 1916 Jack’s parents received some of his personal effects, including his identity disc and an unsent Christmas message which he had written to his mother.
After the war his parents received a Memorial Scroll, Plaque and Royal Letter from the King, which was presented to the next of kin of those who died while serving in the Australian Imperial Force in WW1, acknowledging the soldier’s service and their loss as a family.
John Auguste Emile Harris was awarded for service in WW1 the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal and the Anzac Commemorative Medallion.
Respectfully submitted by Sue Smith 7th November 2023.
Sources
The Lost Boys written by Paul Byrnes (Book)
Click images to start slideshow.