Hackett, John Langton

No.17994 – Private John Langton Hackett – 12^th Field Ambulance

John Langton Hackett was the older brother of Basil, being born in Brunswick Victoria in 1892. The family soon moved to Western Australia and took up residence in Burt Street Fremantle. After leaving school John took up work for an insurance firm where he became a clerk.

On the 28^th January 1916 John went to the Swan Barracks in Perth to enlist in the AIF. He was found to be fit for service with the medical officer recording John’s physical attributes as; 5 feet 7 inches in height; weight of 132lbs; chest measurement of 31-34 inches; fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.

John was initially sent to Blackboy Hill Camp and put into a training depot where he was taken through the basics of infantry work. On the 1^st April 1916 John was sent into the 2^nd Reinforcements to the 51^st Battalion however five days later he was transferred into the Australian Army Medical Corps. John would spend the next year working for the AAMC at Blackboy Hill, Claremont Showgrounds and Belmont training Camps. He took the opportunity of still being in Australia to marry his sweetheart Francis Holland in 1917. They wouldn’t have long together as John was sent to NSW with other WA AMC reinforcements and on the 1^st August 1917 they boarded the SS Orita and set sail for England via Halifax. The ship reached Liverpool on the 3^rd October 1917 and after being disembarked John was sent into the AMC training depot at Parkhouse Camp. John wouldn’t have long in England as on the 18^th October he boarded a transport ship for France. He had another two weeks in the depot at Rouelles but then went to join the 12^th Field Ambulance of the 4^th Division in Belgium.

The 4^th Division was then sent to the Peronne sector as a reserve unit for the British advance at Cambrai. They weren’t needed but remained in this sector until after New Year 1917/18. In January 1918 the 4^th Division returned to the southern Belgium sector of Warneton. They were there until late March 1918; when in response to the German spring offensive, the 3^rd & 4^th Australian Divisions were sent south to the Somme sector to stop the German advance. The 12^th Brigade found itself at Dernancourt and on the 4^th April they were involved in a desperate defence of the area against an overwhelming German attack. John would have been busy with large casualties being suffered by the Australians.

John served with the 12^th Field Ambulance for the remainder of their service life on the Western Front. He was sent for a fortnight’s leave to England in late October 1918 but returned in time to celebrate the Armistice with his unit.

After the Armistice the 4^th Division travelled to what had been German occupied Belgium and remained there through the first few months of 1919. On the 14^th March 1919 John was promoted Lance Corporal and on the 6^th April was sent to England to await a berth on a transport ship home. John was assigned to the nursing staff on the transport ship Somali which left England on the 1^st June 1919. The ship arrived in Fremantle on the 8^th July 1919 after which time John was discharged from the AIF.

John Hackett died on the 24^th August 1954 in Perth and is buried in Karrakatta Cemetery Plot RC OC 0160.