PATTERSON, John Edward
| Service Number: | 738 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 4th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Gateshead-on-Tyne, Durham, England, 7 April 1884 |
| Home Town: | Newcastle, Hunter Region, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Signal Fitter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 4 October 1917, aged 33 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 20 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 738, 4th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 738, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney | |
| 25 Apr 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 738, 4th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, Gunshot wound to wrist. Evacuated to a hospital in Egypt. Sent to England on 2nd June 1915. Returned to Egypt in January 1916. | |
| 4 Oct 1917: | Involvement Lance Corporal, 738, 4th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 738 awm_unit: 4th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-10-04 |
Help us honour John Edward Patterson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
John Edward PATTERSON (Service Number 738) was born at Gateshead-on-Tyne, Durham, England, on 7th April 1884. He joined the NSW Government Railways as a temporary labourer in the Signalling Branch in Sydney in March 1912. In October 1913 he was made a signal fitters’ assistant at Cockle Creek near Newcastle.
When he enlisted in the AIF in December 1914 in Sydney, he was living in Hunter Street West, in Newcastle.
He was allotted to the 4th Battalion. He was embarked from Sydney in October 1914 for the Middle East. In April 1915 he was sent to Gallipoli. He was wounded in action on 25th April (gunshot wound to wrist) and evacuated to hospital in Egypt. He was sent to England on 2nd June.
He was married on 26th July 1915 to Mary Ann Hunter in Gateshead-on-Tyne (where he had been born).
In September 1915 he was treated for some time for venereal disease. In December he was sent back from England to Egypt, landing there and re-joining his Battalion in January 1916.
In March 1916 he was sent to France. In June he was hospitalised with Influenza for two weeks.
After re-joining his unit, he was wounded in action on 18th August. He returned to duty on 25th August.
He was made a Lance Corporal in October. He was detached for duty with Anzac Saw Mills between February and July 1917, although he spent some days under treatment for scabies and pediculosis.
He re-joined his Battalion in July.
He was posted ‘missing in action’ on 4th October 1917, but this was soon corrected to ‘killed in action’. One later report to the Red Cross was that
‘… the 2nd Battalion found his body on Broodseinde Ridge on 4th October and buried him there.’
Another said:
‘I knew him pretty well, he had been in the Battalion with me for about 12 months. On 4 October we started an attack at Passchendaele Ridge; about 5.30am just before we went over Patterson was alongside of me, a shell dropped near us and blew Patterson to pieces. We carried on. There was nothing of Patterson to bury.’
He has no known grave but is remembered with honour on the Menin Gate (Ypres) Memorial.
A war pension was granted to his widow in Durham.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Honour Board.
Click images to start slideshow.