John Charles BOWERS

John Charles Bowers was born 12 May 1895 in Jericho, Central Qld, the first of eight sons and one daughter of John Bowers and Florence Keeble.  John Charles born 1895, George Henry 1897, James Owen 1900, William Leslie 1905, Florence Esmah 1913, Walter Keeble 1910, Godfrey Norman 1907 and Victor Stanley 1916.

On his enlistment in Cairns, he was 20 years of age, his occupation a Butcher and next of kin was his mother Florence Bowers, Kuranda, later changed to his father Mr John Bowers, Biboohra, Cairns Railway.  His height was 5 feet 9 inches, weighed 154 pounds with fair complexion, grey eyes and brown hair.  He was Church of England.

He embarked from Brisbane on 29 June 1915 aboard HMAT Aeneas and arrived in Alexandria, Egypt where he departed for the Gallipoli Peninsula on 4 September.  He suffered from influenza then appendicitis and was transferred to 16 Casualty Clearing Station at Mudros then to 1st Australian General Hospital at Heliopolis on 10 October.  He eventually rejoined his unit at Tel-el-Kebir on 10 January 1916 and left Alexandria on 10 March 1916, arriving in Marseilles, France.  He was promoted to Lance Corporal at Armentieres on 21 April 1916.

John Charles Bowers was killed in action on 29 July 1916 during the first charge at Pozieres.  He is remembered on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France.