Carroll, James Patrick

3064 Private James Patrick Carroll - 2nd Pioneer Battalion

According to his enlistment, James Patrick Carroll was born in Northampton WA in 1876, however it appears that the date was closer to 1870. He had put his age down to successfully enlist.

James was educated in Northampton but after leaving school headed to Fremantle where he took up a blacksmith apprenticeship with Howard Brothers Co. During this time he lived with his Brother William in Douro Road Fremantle.

James continued to work as a blacksmith in Fremantle and around the State.

On the 28th August 1915 James enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. At the time James was working in Roebourne WA as a shearer. He was found to be physically fit for service with the medical examiner recording his physical details as;

Height - 5 feet 8 inches tall;

Weight - 10 stone 6;

Chest Measurement - 37 & 1/2 inches;

Complexion - Reddish;

Eyes - Blue;

Hair - Fair.

His brother William Carroll in Douro Road Fremantle was James's next of kin.

After his successful enlistment, James was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp and was assigned to No.27 Training Depot. It was here that James was taken through the basics of infantry training. On the 1st November 1915 James was assigned to the 7th Reinforcements to the 28th Battalion.

After a few months of training with this group in WA, they received their embarkation orders and on the 18th January 1916 James and his group boarded the transport ship HMAT Medic in Fremantle Harbour and set sail for Egypt.

After arriving in Egypt on the 16th February James and his group were marched into the 7th Training Battalion. As the 28th Battalion was currently at full complement James was instead sent to help form the newly established 2nd Pioneer Battalion. Each of the Australian Divisions would have a Pioneer Battalion attached to it.

James was taken on strength of this new unit on the 12th March 1916, however he did not have much time in Egypt as the 2nd Pioneers departed for France on the 19th March 1916. They arrived at Marseilles on the 26th March and on leaving the ship were entrained for the north of France. The Australians would be sent to the Armentieres region.

They received their first experience of the Western Front in the Armentieres sector. The men of the 2nd Pioneers were kept busy with constructing front line and communication trenches, keeping roads passable, constructing dugouts and other engineering duties.

James and the 2nd Pioneer Battalion remained at Armentieres till June 1916. After a short stint in Belgium, the 2nd Pioneers then went to the Somme where they would take part in the action at Pozieres. The 1st Australian Division captured Pozieres on July 23rd 1916 after which time the 2nd Division came in and relieved them.

The Germans were plastering the area with heavy shellfire which meant that trenches were always needing to be reconstructed both at the front line and in the communication areas.

James must have been close to the front line as on August 1st1916 he was shot in the shoulder and leg. He was evacuated to hospital at Camiers. After a few days of treatment he was sent to England where he was admitted to a military hospital in Chatham. James spent August to November 1916 in hospital.

On the 24th November 1916 James was well enough to be given a period of leave from hospital. On his return from leave he would report to No.1 Command Depot Camp at Perham Downs. His fitness was being assessed and was found that his true age was closer to 47 and that he was now suffering from a shortness of breath as well as the lingering effects of the shoulder wound.

The medical authorities decided that James would not be well enough to go back to the Western Front and that he would be sent home. Over the next few months he spent time in the AIF camps at Fovant, Larkhill and Weymouth while he waited for his embarkation orders to arrive.

On the 22nd July 1917 James boarded the transport ship Nestor for the voyage home. He arrived in Fremantle on the 3rd September 1917. James was discharged from the AIF on the 6th October 1917, the official reason being that he was overage.