Hackett, John Langton

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

John Langton Hackett was born in Brunswick Victoria in 1892 to John and Bridget Hackett and he had a sister Dorothy born the year after in 1893. The family soon moved to Western Australia and took up residence in Burt Street Fremantle. Further children were born into the family, with, Claire (1895),  Basil (1898), Mary (1900), Wilfred (1904) and Cyril (1906).

John was educated at CBC Fremantle, and after leaving school he took up work for an insurance firm where he became a clerk.

His younger brother Basil had enlisted in 1915 and had sailed from Fremantle in November of that year.

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;

Height - 5 feet 7 inches tall;

Weight - 132lbs;

Chest Measurement - 31-34 inches;

Complexion - Fair;

Eyes - blue;

Hair - brown

After his successful enlistment John was initially sent to Blackboy Hill Camp and was 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.

It was at sometime in 1916-17 that the below photo was taken on the Hackett family in Burt Street Fremantle. (photo courtesy of John Garland)

John 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 medical corps reinforcements, however a son John was born in Fremantle in 1918. 

On the 1^st August 1917 John Langton Hackett and his reinforcement group  boarded the transport ship 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 1917 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 south east of Ypres at Hollebeke.

They were there until late March 1918; when in response to the German spring offensive of March 21st 1918, 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 kept 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 France 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.

After his return home, further children were born, with, Brian in 1920 and Basil in 1922.

After his return from the war John resumed employment with the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Ltd Company.

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