The AIF Project

John Thomas ROUT

Regimental number2853
Place of birthKensington, Victoria
ReligionRoman Catholic
OccupationLabourer
Address5 Footscray Road, Kensington, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation22
Height5' 7.75"
Weight140 lbs
Next of kinFather, W Rout, 5 Footscray Road, Kensington, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date30 June 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name6th Battalion, 9th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/23/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A16 Star Of Victoria on 10 September 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll58th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 18 September 1916
Miscellaneous details (Nominal Roll)Nominal Roll and Roll of Honour incorrectly state date of death as 19 July 1916.
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
166
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Note Date of Death
Family/military connectionsBrother: 2505 Pte Tasman ROUT, 22nd Bn, returned to Australia, 12 November 1916.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Taken on strength, 6th Bn, Tel el Kebir, 7 January 1916.

Transferred to, and taken on strength of, 58th Bn, Serapeum, 17 February 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 17 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 23 June 1916.

Reported wounded and missing in action, 18 September 1916; Court of Enquiry, in the field, 1 September 1917, determined fate as 'killed in action, 18 September 1916'.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, ROUT John Thomas

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