Malone, John Joseph
2514 Lance Corporal Joseph John Malone - 16th Battalion AIF
John Joseph Malone was born in South Melbourne Victoria in 1891. The family then moved to Western Australia and took up residence in North Fremantle. Further children were born here, Martin (1892), Michael (1897), Catherine (1900), Patrick (1902) and John (1905).
Joseph was educated at Christian Brothers College Fremantle and after leaving school he took up employment with the WA Government Railways.
Joseph John Malone was a 24 year old Locomotive Foreman from Coventry Parade North Fremantle when he enlisted in the AIF in June 1915. He was initially assigned to the 16th Battalion and saw service with them at Gallipoli, but after the evacuation he was assigned to the 4th Machine Gun Company and was promoted to Lance Corporal. He was wounded by shrapnel on the 5th July 1916 and was evacuated back to England. He spent some time in hospital only returning to his unit on the 25th February 1917.
On April 11th 1917 he took part in the attack on Bullecourt. He was the No.1 on the Vickers Gun when the back of his leg was blown out by a bullet. Unable to regain Australian lines he was taken captive. The account begins with the Germans just having captured him.
“The German helped me along – to me it appeared that he did so only when his comrades were not looking at us – for about 150 yards. I was placed in the charge of two Germans who were holding what appeared to be an outpost on our trench. I stayed there for about an hour………Then there was a general round-up of prisoners. A 16th Battalion chap who was wounded in the arm helped me along to Bullecourt. We proceeded to Bullecourt under cover of saps and trenches and when we reached there we were placed in a dug-out 30 or 40 feet deep. Here my wound was examined by a German doctor, but it was not dressed. There were about ten of us Australians there and for the remainder of that day and night we were placed in a small, dark recess. We remained there the whole of the next day.
Partly on a stretcher and afterwards in a farm wagon, I was taken to a large marquee field hospital at a railway siding. We stayed there the night and the next day left by train for Verden. The train journey occupied two days and nights. We arrived at Verden on April 15th. In the train that brought us there were about 50 Australians. At Verden the hospital in which we were placed would accommodate, roughly, about 200 patients. We were a mixed collection – Russians, French, Belgians and English, as well as Australians. I was at this place for three months and a week. I did not leave there till July 17. ………About 10 or a dozen of us were transferred to Soltau. Here my Red Cross parcels began to reach me. They came regularly and were not pilfered from. At Soltau I went before a commission with a view to being repatriated. They turned me down – I did not succeed passing. Subsequently I was put out for two hours shoveling sand. I complained to the American Ambassador who had me sent to the doctors again and this time they passed me.
Primarily on account of my wounded leg, I was passed for internment in Switzerland. This would be about August 1917. I left Soltau for Constance on October 19. I arrived at Constance on October 21 but did not leave there for internment in Switzerland till December 27. At Constance the food improved immensely, both in quality and quantity. But it was still not enough to live on.
I was some time at Interlaken in the Hotel des Alpes. The living accommodation was good. There were never more than 4 to a bedroom, more often less. The food was poor but a number of Red Cross food parcels that we had not received at Constance were sent on after us. These saved the situation. Once when one of our chaps complained about the ration issued, A Swiss Captain tapped him on the shoulder and pointing to the Swiss civil prison across the road, said “I’ll get you a special cook and take you over the road.” About a fortnight later we lodged a general complaint, leaving all the food untouched on the table and walking out. This trouble was “dealt” with the next morning. Captain Michel characterized the complaint as “frivolous” and warned us not to let it occur again.
I was at Interlaken three and a half months – from November 28th 1917 till I left for England on March 21 1918. We struck the French frontier at Pont Arlier and travelled across France in hospital train to Boulogne. A German aircraft squadron was bombing Boulogne when we arrived and we were hung up there an additional day in consequence, before embarking for England. We reached Dover on March 24 1918 and were entrained straight away to London. We were sent to the King George Hospital at Waterloo but later on I was transferred to the No.3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford.
After a few months of recovery in England, L/Cpl Joseph Malone left England for Australia on the 21st of July 1918.
He was discharged from the AIF on the 25th September 1918 and he resumed his employment as a Locomotive fireman with the WA Government Railways.
In 1919 he married Agnes Linnane and they went to live at Princess Road in Claremont. In 1924 they had a daughter called Noreen. By 1925 they had moved to Narrogin and by the 1930's they were living in Kalgoorlie.
In 1942 Agnes died and Joe Malone lived until 1958. He had retired and was living at Nazareth House in South Fremantle