James Evans
Stephen LearmonthJames Evans is another student whose name appears on the Corryong Consolidated Roll of Honour and yet is not indicated as having died during the Great War. James’ service records clearly indicate that he died due to disease and wounds obtained in battle at Norfolk Hospital in Norwich, England on the 23rd of August 1916.
James was a 22-year-old labourer and apprentice dairy farmer for E. Good of Kangaroo Valley in the Illawarra region of New South Wales when he decided to enlist in the 1st AIF on the 31st of August 1914. His relatively low Regimental Number of 592 is an indication of how early he joined. At the time of his enlistment in Sydney, James was described as being 5 feet 51/2 inches tall, weighing 133 lbs, with a dark complexion and dark brown eyes. He indicated that his religious denomination was the Church of England. The examining medical officer who signed James’ medical examination certificate was Captain Jack Bean, the younger brother of Charles Bean, the Official Australian correspondent for the war and author of the official history of Australia in the First World War.
After training at Randwick near Sydney, James and the rest of the 3rd Battalion embarked on HMAT A14 Euripides on the 20th of October 1914. After a sea voyage that lasted over six weeks, the Euripides passed through the Suez Canal before docking at Alexandria in Egypt. The Battalion took little time to make its way to Mena Camp, the main AIF camp in Egypt. The training was a regime of route marches, battle tactics, and physical fitness that took place during the relative coolness of the mornings and evenings. For recreation, the soldiers of the 1st AIF spent time visiting historical venues such as the Pyramids as well as the bars and cafes in Cairo. On the 5th of April James was admitted to the 15th General Hospital in Abbassia suffering from gonorrhoea. By the end of the war, over 60000 Australian soldiers had been treated for venereal diseases.
After almost a week in the hospital, James found himself discharged to duty and finally, on the 7th of May, taken on strength with the 3rd Battalion at Anzac Cove. During the August Offensive James was fighting at Lone Pine when on the 7th of August he was wounded by a gunshot wound to the chest. Two days later he was admitted to the 1st Casualty Clearing Station with pyrexia, an abnormal rise in body temperature, and fever. That day he was embarked onto the HT Caledonia and shipped off to England. After two weeks on the hospital ship, James was admitted to the City of London Military Hospital in Clapton, UK. After three months in hospital recuperating from wounds and fever James was aboard the HT Oriane heading back to Egypt and rejoining the 3rd Battalion following the withdrawal of Anzac forces from Gallipoli.
February 1916 was not a good month for James as his service records show a series of misdemeanours, which resulted in a number of penalties. On February the 12th he forfeited 2 days' pay and awarded 3 days of field punishment No. 2 for breaking camp and remaining absent without leave from Reveille on the 2nd of February to tattoo on the following day. Field Punishment Number 2 saw the convicted man being shackled in irons but not fixed to anything (as it was for Field Punishment No. 1) and was therefore able to move around. A week and a half later on the 26th of February, James received a further 7 days of field punishment No. 2 for misconduct in the ranks and insubordination. This would not be the last time James encountered the military justice system.
On the 22nd of March 1916, the 3rd Battalion embarked on the HT Grampian to join the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) in France. It was a relatively short six days' travel before disembarking at the French Mediterranean port of Marseille.
The 3rd Battalion was taken to the Petillon sector of France where James once again found himself at a loss with military protocol. He was forfeited one day's pay for being absent from his billet at 1900 hours on the 1st of April, while 22 days later he was awarded 7 days field punishment No. 2 for once again being absent from roll call.
In early June of 1916, the 3rd Battalion moved into the Fleurbaix area, taking over from the 7th Battalion as Brigade Reserve. For the next few weeks they would undertake a variety of tasks including training, constructing and repairing trenches, and suffer from heavy shelling, both shrapnel and gas.
At 0010 hours on the 29th of June Australian artillery opened a heavy fire on the enemy front line. As it lifted, a raiding party from the 1st Battalion raided the enemy trenches that were in front of the 3rd Battalion, taking two prisoners in the encounter. At 0230 the Germans replied with heavy shelling and mortar fire. During that time 4 OR’s were killed and 7 wounded. James was counted amongst the wounded.
He was admitted to the No. 2 Canadian Stationary Hospital and three days later embarked on the Hospital Ship St. Dennis bound for England. On the 2nd of July he was admitted to the Norwich War Hospital. The initial telegram sent to James’ mother indicates that he had been sent to the Norwich War Hospital suffering from a gunshot wound leg, "mild". Nearly six weeks later, on the 23rd of August 1916, James succumbed to his wounds. His service records state that he died of recurrent tetanus and broncho-pneumonia heart failure. He was buried in the Norwich cemetery, initially in section 24, grave no. 109. Four years later his remains were exhumed from this site and re-interred in grave no. 671, section 54.
The 1st of September 1916 edition of the Albury Banner and Wodonga Express included an article on James.
“ALBURY SOLDIER KILLED
Mrs Evans, of Western Hill, Albury, received a cable message on Saturday stating her son, Private James Evans, had died of wounds on August 23. The cable was sent by deceased’s sister, who is a Red Cross nurse on active service. In a letter to his mother from England, on July 5, - Private Evans wrote:- “I have been wounded again, and pretty severely this time, too. I am a lucky man I have got my leg on, although I may lose it yet. It would have been better to have had it knocked off, instead of half-knocked off. I got shot below the knee, and the bone was badly shattered. I will be on my back for months. I was operated on in France before I came over here.”
One of the letters of correspondence in James’ file is a three line note written in a shaky hand. The untidy and smudged handwriting possibly indicates that it was written in haste, as though the writer needed to get it out of the way quickly. The author was Ann Evan’s James’ mother. She wrote that she had received the package containing her son’s personal remains. In that package was a set of identity disks and a kit bag handle. In October of 1917, Ann was notified that she would receive a War Pension of 32/- ($185 in today’s money) per fortnight.
James is remembered on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, and the Corryong War Memorial For his service during the First World War, he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
