JAMES, George Henry
| Service Numbers: | 2725, 2725A |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 47th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Cressy, Tasmania, Australia, 11 March 1895 |
| Home Town: | Longford, Northern Midlands, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Longford State School, Tasmania, Australia |
| Occupation: | Farm labourer |
| Died: | Killed in action, France, 19 May 1918, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Longford War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 15 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2725, 15th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Aug 1915: | Involvement Private, 2725, 15th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Kyarra embarkation_ship_number: A55 public_note: '' | |
| 21 Aug 1915: | Embarked Private, 2725, 15th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Kyarra, Melbourne | |
| 20 Apr 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 47th Infantry Battalion | |
| 19 May 1918: | Involvement Private, 2725A, 47th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2725A awm_unit: 47th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-05-19 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
George Henry James was the son of William and Sophia James, of Longford, Tasmania, and he enlisted at the age of 20, six days after his father died in Tasmania. He stated on enlistment he had once been convicted of riding a bicycle without a light. His eighteen-year-old younger brother, 2741 Sergeant Alick Thomas James enlisted a couple of weeks before and the brothers left for overseas on the same ship with reinforcements for the 15th Battalion AIF. They both saw service at Gallipoli for a short period and both transferred to the 47th Battalion in early 1916.
It was reported in the local papers that “Mrs. James, of Longford, has received letters from her two sons, George and Alick, from Gallipoli, dated November 9, saying they had been in the trenches a week, and had not had a go at the Turks, but were hoping it would not be too long before they did. "It is good sport," they say "watching the boys catching 'gentle Annies,' but so far have not discovered any ourselves. Things are a lot better here than we expected. We have bacon for breakfast, and dried vegetables, with fresh meat stews, for dinner, and bread two or three times a week, with plenty of bully beef and biscuits, and sometimes we get rice. We even get milk in our tea, so it is not so bad. You know the mess tins we had over there? Well, we cook in them and fry bacon in the lids. We even wash our faces in the tins in a cupful of water. We have had no letters since we left Tasmania except one, we should have had before we left Melbourne.”
Alick James died of wounds suffered during the Battle of Messines on 16 June 1917, a few months short of his 21st birthday. George James was wounded during the same action, and again during September 1917.
George was killed in action on 19 May 1918, at night, when an unknown aircraft dropped a bomb on a dugout occupied by him and another stretcher bearer of the 47th Battalion, 3499 Pte. Charles Goodsall. Both men were killed and said to have been buried in the Adelaide Cemetery, near Villers Bretonneux, but George James’ grave was subsequently lost.
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