Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John James NELSON was born 27th April, 1890 in WILMINGTON to William James & Elizabeth NELSON of WILMINGTON. John was the 3rd oldest of 7 children. John did his schooling at WILMINGTON and became a blacksmith for the area.

John attested at WILMINGTON on 2nd January, 1915. He enlisted on the 4th of January, 1915 in Oaklands in Adelaide at the age of 24 years and 8 months. He was a single man, 5’5” tall and he weighed 140 lbs with a fair complexion and blue eyes. He trained at Camp and embarked with the 16th Battalion from ADELAIDE on board HMAT A17 Port Lincoln on 1 April 1915.

John and the 16th arrived on Gallipoli on 27th July 1915. On 5-10-15 John was admitted to hospital and later evacuated to LEMNOS hospital with ICT Left knee (Inter connective Tissue damage) and then complications including Jaundice. On 7-12-1915 he rejoined the fighting on Gallipoli before the Peninsula was evacuated in December 1915.

He disembarked at Alexandria after the evacuation on the 30th. He then left Alexandria aboard the ‘Canada’ on the 1st of June, 1916 and arrived at Marseilles on the 9th. He was appointed to Lance Corporal on the 16th of July.

The battalion took part in the bloody trench warfare in the Somme Valley, where Johns oldest brother, William was killed whilst fighting as part of the British Army on 1st July 1916.

The 16ths first major action in France was at Pozieres starting on the 8th August 1916 a sustained costly attack on fixed positions by the Australians. John was killed during the attack on Circular Trench on the 10th of August, 1916.

In early 1917 Johns parents understandably were devastated and applied to the Army for their other serving son, Frederick to be sent home immediately, he wasn’t. He remained in action and was gassed in France on 28th August 1918. Frederick returned to Australia and was discharged honourably in 1919 and died in 1954.

John NELSONs body was not recovered and his name is one of those etched on the Villers- Bretonneux Memorial with 10,773 names of soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force with no known grave who were killed between 1916, when Australian forces arrived in France and Belgium, and the end of the war.

The location was chosen to commemorate the role played by Australian soldiers in the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. The memorial also serves as the Australian National Memorial to all the Australian dead during the Western Front of World War I.

Williams father, received his 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal, Victory Medal, Memorial Scroll & Plaque along with a copy of the ‘Kings Message’. In 1967 his family were also supplied a Gallipoli Medallion by the Government in recognition of Johns service on the Peninsula.

John is commemorated on the Australian War Memorial on the Roll of Honour & is also commemorated on the Honour Roll at The WILMINGTON Soldiers Memorial Hall.

LEST WE FORGET