Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From How We Served

The private commemoration for; - Second Lieutenant John Huntingdon Smith of Royal Park, Victoria who prior to his enlistment for War Service in July 1915 had been employed as a manager.

John applied for an Officer’s Commission, and this was granted after he had completed his training with the 6th School of Instruction. John was allocated to reinforcements for the 21st Battalion 1st AIF, and was embarked for Egypt and further training on the 5th of October.

Following the end of the Gallipoli campaign, John was transferred over to the newly formed 60th Battalion on the 26th of February 1916, and would undergo further training at the Zeitoun School of Instruction and after completing this he was returned to his Battalion on the 30th of May.

With his new Unit, John was shipped to France where they were disembarked on the 29th of June, and within weeks of his Battalion’s arrival in France they were committed to the Battle of Fromelles. It was during these operations on the 19th of July that John was killed in action by shellfire, and his body was recovered for burial. Following the end of the War, John was formally reported as being interred within the Rue-Du-Bois Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix, Bethune, Nord Pas de Calais, France.

Back in Australia, the supreme sacrifice made by Second Lieutenant John Smith, during the ‘Great War’ was privately commemorated at the Smith family’s collective burial site within Melbourne General Cemetery, Victoria.