Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Einar James Olson was supposedly born on the 24th March, 1892 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, probably to Olof Edward and Ida/Ada Olson, probably of Sweden. The circumstances concerning his life before enlisting is unknown. He enlisted at Oaklands on the 9th December, 1914 at Oaklands, South Australia.

He was assigned to ‘C’ Squadron, 11th Light Horse on the 16th March, 1915 and embarked from Brisbane on the 2nd June, 1915 as an original of C Squadron, 11th Light Horse which was comprised of South Australians. His Regiment was broken up with the Squadrons being sent to the 2nd (A Sqd), 5th (B Sqd) and 9th (C Sqd) Light Horse Regiments. He arrived onto Gallipoli on the 2nd October, 1915 and stayed on the peninsula until the evacuation in December.  He and his regiment were assembled again in Heliopolis on the 22nd February, 1916 and transferred from ‘C’ Squadron to the Machine Gun Section of the 11th Light Horse Regiment on March 9th, 1916. He saw some action with the 11th Light Horse in the desert with defence of the Suez Canal and patrolling the Sinai Desert in July 1916 onwards. He was in hospital from August 4th, 1916 to August 17th on dental matters. As he was apart of a Machine Gun Section, he was transferred to the 4th Light Horse Machine Gun Squadron on the 27th February, 1917 at Ferry Post into either 3 or 4 Section as a founding member. He was appointed Driver on the 13th March and went into hospital on the 25th March after being kicked in the leg by a horse. He was taken back onto strength on the 12th April. On the 8th August, he was in hospital with synovitis, discharged to duty a day later. Olson was assigned Trooper at his own request on the 20th September, and went into hospital on the 20th November with diarrhoea, returning to duty on the 30th December. On the 12th December, he broke out of the barracks at about 8pm and was apprehended by Military Police at about 10:40pm. He was deprived of 2 days pay. On the 12th January, 1918 he was caught at a brothel by a Sergeant J Howard and a couple of other provosts. His statement reads..

“Sir, I was on Police Duty in Sharia el Berka on the 12-1-18. [At] About 11:45pm I visited Brothel No.37 where I saw the above named soldier. He was Out of Bounds. I asked him if he was on Pass and he produced the attached which had expired at 2pm. I arrested and had him conducted to Qasr El Nil 13th and handed over to the N&G in charge of the A.P.C Guard.”

Olson was given 3 days Field Punishment No.2 from the 14th January as well as forfeiting 2 days pay, signed by Captain Bryant. On the 12th October, he was promoted to Lance Corporal and shortly after went into hospital with malaria from the 30th October to the 8th November. James Olson was sent home via the Dongola on the 24th July, 1919 and returned to Australia on August 23rd, 1919 joining Berri RSL the same day and remaining with them from 1919 to the end of 1944. He was discharged at 4th M.D on October 22nd, 1919. He married Anne Loechel at Bow Hill on June 22nd, 1921 and had several children. He died in Murray Bridge on February 22nd, 1968. He had seen action at Gallipoli, Suez Canal, Gaza, Beersheba, Mediggo, Semakh/Sharon and the Egyptian Revolts in 1919.

His name post war was usually conceived as Einar James Olson.