Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Jack Peers enlisted with AIF 30 April 1940 later joining 2/4th MGB's 'C' Coy with 12 Platoon, under command of Lt. Mick Wedge.
Peers was admitted to 2/10th Australian General Hospital with a shrapnel wound to his left groin and a fractured left pelvis. (We believe at Hill 200). He died of wounds at Australian General Hospital, Roberts Barracks, Changi 0500 hours on 6th March 1942 a few weeks after capitulation.

John was the only son of Harley Edwin Peers and Annie Genevieve Grimley, who married 1901 at Kookynie.  He had one sister Ruth Ethel Peers who died in 1972. Both children were born whilst family resided in the mining area of Kookynie near Menzies where his Public Service Father worked for the Mines Department.

Victorian born Harley Peers enlisted in WW1 from Kalgoorlie on 21 Sept 1916, Service No. 3427 with 51st Battalion, 8th reinforcements.  He embarked for Europe on 29 January 1917 and served in France.  He returned to Australia  on 'Margha' on 18 Jan 1919 suffering Trench Feet and Bronchitis.  His wife Annie with their two children were residing in Perth.

'On the morning of 2nd April,1917, the Battalion along with the 50th Battalion attacked Noreuil, an outpost village near the Hindenberg Line. The attack was a success, but the Battalion suffered 239 casualties during the assault and subsequent defence of the village. The next major engagement of the 51st Battalion was the counter-attack at Villers Bretonneux on 24/25 April 1918, during which action the Battalion lost 389 men in just two days. Lieutenant C.W.K. Sadlier won the Victoria Cross for his valour during the engagement. For the action, the Battalion was awarded a total of 4l decorations. The depleted 52nd Battalion was incorporated into the 51st Battalion to make up the numbers for the rest of the war.'