Hall, John William

706 Private John William Hall - 16th Battalion AIF

John William Hall was born in Wilmington South Australian in 1896 to Mary Ann Hall and George Hall. He was one of seven siblings born into the family.

The family came to WA in the late 1890's and set up residence in Fremantle. His father George died on the 17th September 1904.

In 1906 they were living at 51 Howard Street Fremantle (later renumbered to 5 Howard). The family were now living at 49 Howard St Fremantle (later renumbered to 7 Howard Street)

During this time John completed his education in Fremantle and served in 86A Cadets and then the 86th infantry of the Citizens Military Forces.

On September 25th 1914 John enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. The medical examiner recorded his physical attributes as;

Height - 5 feet 5 & 1/2 inches tall;

Weight - 145 lbs;

Chest measurement - 36-38 inches;

Complexion - Fair;

Eyes - Grey;

Hair - Light Brown.

Upon his successful enlistment John was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where he was assigned to the 16th Battalion AIF. John trained with the 16^th Battalion at Blackboy Hill for the next month.

As the battalions of the 4^th Brigade were all from different states, it was decided to get them all together for further training at Broadmeadows camp in Victoria, so on November 21^st 1914 the 16^th Battalion left Helena Vale for Fremantle where they embarked on troopships for Melbourne. Under command of Colonel Monash the 4^th Brigade settled down to more training at Broadmeadows Camp. Rumours were always circling around camp as to when they would be embarking for service overseas and after the 4^th Brigade march through Melbourne it was thought that embarkation was close at hand and on the 22^nd December 1914 the 16^th Battalion boarded the HMAT Ceramic and set sail for Egypt.

The journey from Melbourne took over six weeks, with HMAT Ceramic berthing at Alexandria on the 3^rd February 1915. After being disembarked the men of the 16^th Battalion were sent to Heliopolis Camp near Cairo where they were initially organised into four Companies from their previous 8 companies.

The 16^th Battalion trained in Egypt for the next two months and on April 11^th 1915 they received orders to proceed to Alexandria. On arrival John’s Company boarded the transport ship and soon set sail, arriving at Lemnos Island four days later on the 15^th April 1915. For the next few days the soldiers practised their landing into the ships boats and other training that was practicable.

On April 25^th 1915 at noon the 16^th Battalion’s transport ship left Lemnos and proceeded to Anzac Cove where they arrived at about 4pm. The men of the 16^th landed at Anzac Cove from 530pm and on the battalion landing at the beach they were immediately sent up Monash Valley to what would later be known as Popes Hill, named after the 16^th Battalion commander Lieutenant-Colonel Pope. John and his battalion dug a trench as they were receiving Turkish fire from the front and rear as there were still Turks on Russel’s Top.  John survived the actions of the first few weeks at Pope’s Hill, Dead Man’s Ridge and Quinn’s Post when the 16^th Battalion had heavy casualties. 

However he had been wounded in the right wrist early in the campaign but stayed on with his unit; when an attack of appendicitis on the 18th May saw him evacuated to a hospital ship. On the 24th May 1915 he reached Valetta Malta aboard the hospital transport ship Soudan. John remained there for a month and was then shipped to England and was admitted to the 2nd Western General Hospital in Manchester.

On the 10th September 1915 he was transferred to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Harefield. On the 8th October 1915 John left England aboard the HMAT Suevic and returned to Australia.

After a medical check-up at No.8 AGH in Fremantle John was then discharged from the AIF.

However in 1916 he re-enlisted and was assigned to the 23rd reinforcements 16th Battalion. He embarked from Fremantle on the 23rd December 1916 aboard the transport ship HMAT Berrima and set sail for England, reaching Devonport on the 16th February 1917.

John was then sent to the 4th Training Battalion at Codford Camp. He spent a month here and then on the 27th March 1917 went absent without leave and did not report back to camp until the 28th May 1917. He had been declared an illegal absentee in the meantime.

John went absent without leave again on the 9th June 1917 and was absent from camp through the rest of the war. On the 1st April 1920 John was discharged from the AIF as a consequence of the desertion. He was therefore not eligible for any war medals.

In 1919 his mother was living at 91 South St Fremantle-later renumbered to 35 South St).