S29521
CURRIE, John Bell
| Service Number: | 123 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Light Horse Regiment |
| Born: | Largs Bay, South Australia, Australia, 1883 |
| Home Town: | Largs Bay, Port Adelaide Enfield, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Porter |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 123, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Lincoln embarkation_ship_number: A17 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 123, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Port Lincoln, Adelaide |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Nick Hogben
John Bell Currie
John Bell Currie was born in 1883 in Largs Bay. His parents lived at Mile End in South Australia. He found work as a railway porter and he was married. His wife’s name was Violet May Currie, and they lived at 116 Beulah Road, Norwood. [1]
John Bell Currie applied to enlist in the AIF in August 1914. He served as a soldier in World War 1. John Currie had brown eyes, black hair and three very distinct tattoos. Two were on his left arm. They were tattoos of a heart with an arrow going through it and a cannon. On his right arm, he had an American Coat of Arms. [2]
John Bell Currie joined the war in 1915. He was assigned to be part of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment. John Currie arrived at the Dardanelles on the 2nd of July 1915. Later in the year he arrived at Gallipoli on the 6th of August 1915. [3]
Gallipoli was a grim place during the war. There was constant noise, death and disease. The trenches reeked of dead bodies and they were a damp and wet place. Water supply was a big issue and the rations were limited. In short, life in the Gallipoli trenches was awful and many of these men (including John Bell Currie) had to serve there. The men serving there not only suffered because of these horrible conditions but for many of them their mental health was deteriorating as they were constantly seeing death and this caused fear and grief. [4]
From here he served for another month before he was admitted to hospital for lumbago and dysentery. From there onwards his health deteriorated. He caught bronchitis and suffered with shell shock. He arrived back in Australia on the 2nd of March 1916 before he was finally relieved of his duties and discharged on the 10th of July that same year, because he was deemed medically unfit. [5]
Although John Bell Currie only fought in the war for a brief time he embodied the Anzac spirit because it was courageous of him to enlist to fight in a war a long way from his homeland and in which there were a great many casualties. John Currie also showed great commitment and passion towards helping the war efforts as he suffered many injuries, however he kept going back to war until he was so injured that he would be more of a liability. Finally, John Curry showed Anzac Spirit through his great endurance. He was constantly being moved around to places where soldiers were dying from sickness and injuries, but he looked past it and managed to keep fighting for his country, until he himself was too injured to continue fighting. [6]
[1]: https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/
[2]: https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/
[3]: http://www.naa.gov.au/
[4]: http://theconversation.com/flies-filth-and-bully-beef-life-at-gallipoli-in-1915-39321
[5]: http://www.naa.gov.au/
[6]: https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/anzac/spirit
Biography
Biography on John Bell Currie
John Bell Currie was a soldier in World War I. He was 31 years old when he joined the AIF in the third light horse regiment. He joined on 19 August 1914. His service number was 123.
At the time of enrolment he lived at 116 Beulah Road, Norwood, South Australia but was born in Largs Bay. He had a wife named Violet May Currie who was 25 years old when he enlisted.
When John enlisted, his medical certificate stated that his height was 5'11" (180 centimetres) and he had a chest of 39 inches. He was a healthy weight at 13 stone 8 pounds (86 kg). He had a healthy fresh complexion, brown eyes, black hair and vaccination marks. He had an American coat of arms tattooed on his right arm, and a pierced heart and a Canon on his left arm. He did not present with any conditions.
His statement of service notes that he went to the Dardanelles on 2 July 1915 and Gallipoli on 6th August 1915.
He didn't have any serious injuries such as broken bones but was sick on several occasions. He was admitted to hospital for lumbago (lower back pain) and dysentery on 2 September 1915. He was admitted for lumbago and bronchitis on 16 September 1915 and was hospitalised in England. Then he was treated for ‘severe muscular rheumation’ on 26 September 1915. He was hospitalised on the 19th of January 1916 for concussion shock.
He returned to Australia on 2 March 1916 and he was discharged on 10 July 1916 because he was medically unfit, not due to misconduct. He had requested to be discharged. He served one year and 133 days abroad.
By James Giorgio
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