ANDERSON, James McKenzie
| Service Number: | 218 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 August 1914, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 5th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bet Bet, Victoria, Australia, 1891 |
| Home Town: | Ivanhoe, Banyule, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Bet Bet and Carlton North Public Schools, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey, 26 April 1915 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Panel 24-LONE PINE MEMORIAL , Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bowenvale Bet Bet State School & District Honor Roll, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Oct 1914: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 218, 5th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Orvieto embarkation_ship_number: A3 public_note: '' | |
| 21 Oct 1914: | Embarked AIF WW1, Sergeant, 218, 5th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Orvieto, Melbourne | |
| 26 Apr 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 218, 5th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli |
Help us honour James McKenzie Anderson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
"Informant states that on 26th April, 1915 about 11.45 a.m. during landing at Anzac he and Anderson were together when latter was shot in the back. Informant started to attend to him but had to advance. Advance continued upward of a mile" (Private Sidney Ward, 1095)
His father on the circular noted James had served five years with the Victorian Scottish Regiment reaching the rank of Sergeant and was an elder brother of 2717, Private Thomas Anderson, Killed In Action at Mouquet Farm, 2 August, 1916.
With the confusion of the first few days fighting at Gallipoli, Anderson was initially posted as Wounded, then Missing and Wounded, yet a letter from the Defence Department in August 1915 in response to an enquiry from Anderson's father suggested that a cablegram had been received and "there are no further particulars concerning him; he is evidently still at the front".
The delay continued even after his brother Thomas Anderson was killed at Pozieres the next year, another letter in December, 1916 stating that "as no official report of James' death had been received, the Department was not in a position to issue the formal Death Certificate".
It did, however, suggest that due to the length of time that had elapsed, "the Military Board is regretfully constrained to conclude this soldier is dead", a conclusion reached some four weeks beforehand by a Court of Enquiry held in France on 3 November 1916.
The sacrifice of both brothers was commemorated on the Honour Roll of the Ivanhoe Presbyterian Church; their parents later sponsored the installation of a memorial stained-glass window at the Church (later Uniting) which is now the gallery and art space for Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School.
Biography contributed by Robert Wight
Brother Thomas Anderson 2717, 5th Battalion, KIA 21 August 1916 at Mouquet Farm.
Remembered on Bet Bet & District Honor Roll, Vic.