Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

James Alfred McAllister was the only child of James (/explore/people/795154) and Caroline McAllister. His mother died two days after he was born. Three years later, his father remarried and over the years, James became a big brother to seven brothers and briefly, a sister. 

At the outbreak of WW1, James was a family man himself and didn't immediately enlist. Signing up in January 1917, James sailed for England five weeks later. 

James McAllister and family 1917

The voyage aboard the Ballarat was uneventful until the ship and her escort, HMTBD Phoenix, entered the English Channel on the afternoon of the 25th of April 1917. Additional lookout sentries were posted, however the German submarine UB-32 went unnoticed and launched a torpedo, striking Ballarat’s starboard screw and flooding the engine room. Miraculously none of the 1752 men on-board were killed and all would be rescued by the many drifters that came to their aid. The following day, James marched into the 10th Training Battalion at Durrington on the Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire. His family would read about his close call in the ‘Argus’ newspaper two days later.

Over the next four months, James progressed through the four phases of training, ‘soft, medium, hard and draft’. Sailing from Southampton on the afternoon of the 5th September 1917, Private McAllister along with the other members of the 7th Reinforcements, were finally on their way to France. Arriving in Le Harve, they marched to Rouelles and the 3rd Australian Divisional Base Depot (ADBD) where they completed yet more training. James was ‘taken on strength’ by the 39th Battalion in the field, at Zoteux, on the 18th September 1917.

Four days later the 39th joined their Brigade as part of the Divisional Review conducted by Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, on a makeshift parade ground south of Drionville. 

On Tuesday the 25th of September, the 39th began its march forward. Over the next four days the troops marched 44 miles with the Battalion diary noting, ‘Many lads fell out with badly blistered feet. Marching generally good. Spirit grand'. Their reward, a cricket match against the Battalion's officers, which the troops won by 25 runs.

A week later, the Battalion was among the first waves to advance in the Battle of Broodseinde. When relieved the following day, the battalion had suffered 210 casualties. The Battalion regrouped and five days later were moving back into the battle area.

Despite being a Reserve Battalion on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele, the 39th suffered another 180 casualties. Private James Alfred McAllister among them.  He had suffered a gunshot wound to his left eye and cheek. James had been with the 39th Battalion for 25 days.

Evacuated through a casualty clearing station to General Hospitals in Camiers and Etaples, James was eventually invalided to England aboard the ‘Pieter de Conick’ on the 27th October 1917. His war was over. The piece of shrapnel had severed the lens, causing total blindness in his left eye and was not able to be removed.

It was almost a month before his wife, Florence, first received news that James had been wounded. She would wait a further two weeks to learn the extent of those wounds. James gradually recovered and in early 1918 boarded the Hospital Transport ‘Corinthic’ homeward bound. 

James was discharge from the AIF on the 6th April 1918. The Army deciding his wound equated to a 50% incapacity, which entitled him to a part pension. After a period of readjustment, James acquired a 50 acre berry farm in Monbulk under the Closer Settlement Scheme.

On the 11th September 1921, James' daughter discovered her father  dead. Family stories and a reference in 'MY BOYS - A book of Remembrance', by Mrs Aeneas Gunn OBE, state James McAllister ‘died suddenly from war service injuries caused by movement of shrapnel behind blind eye to brain’. James’ death certificate presents quite a different scenario, and leaves the cause of his death open to debate. James lay in an unmarked grave for almost 88 years until the Department of Veterans’ Affairs approved an application for a War Grave in 2005. 

Karen Standen 2017.