John Joseph OWENS
Year of Birth: 1892
Place of Birth: Irvinebank, Queensland, Australia
Date of Enlistment: 6 September 1915
Date and Place of Embarkation: 31 January 1916 at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Ship: HMAT Wandilla
Rank: Private
Unit(s): 15th Infantry Battalion
Regimental Number: 4574
Died: 22 October 1917
John Joseph (Jack) Owens was born 24 November 1892, the eldest child of John Owens and Ada (nee Moore). He was the only one of his siblings to enlist.
Patrick (b. 1894), Mary (b. 1896), Cecil (b. 1898) and James (b. 1900). His father died in 1901 and his mother married David McGaw a few months later and they had two children – William (b. 1902) and Ethel (b. 1905).
When Jack enlisted in the A.I.F. on 6 September 1915 he was 24 years old, single, a sawyer living in Mareeba. He was described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed 10 stone 2 pounds with a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. His religion was Roman Catholic. He named his mother, Mrs Ada McGaw, his next of kin as his father was deceased.
He embarked from Brisbane on 31 January 1916 on the HMAT Wandilla.
He arrived at the Zeitoun Training Camp near Cairo Egypt on 7 March and on 16 April was taken on strength with the 11th Field Artillery Brigade at Serapeum, a training camp near Cairo. On 21 April 1916 his rank was noted as Gunner and on 22 May 1916 it was Driver.
On 10 June 1916 he left for Marseilles, France. He was killed in action on 22 October 1917 in Belgium and is buried in Menin Road South Military Cemetery, Belgium.
On the 16 January 1918, the Cairns Post printed a number of letters Jack Owens’ mother received from his Commanding Officer and a number of his comrades –
Online Resources
NAA: B2455 (OWENS J J) National Archives of Australia
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Department of Veterans Affairs
National Library of Australia: Trove Digitised Newspapers
Australian Light Horse Studies Centre
Queensland Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages
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