The AIF Project

John James VERGETTE

Regimental number966
Place of birthNorthamptonshire, England
SchoolInfant Orphan Asylum, Wanstead, Essex, England
Age on arrival in Australia25
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationLabourer
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation35
Next of kinMother, Mrs Jane Vergette, Peterborough, Lincolnshire, England
Previous military serviceHe enlisted in the Royal Marines, served for a few years. He was on HMS "Goliath" off the Chinese Coast 1900 and bought his discharge.
Enlistment date16 September 1914
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name2nd Battalion, F Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/19/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board Transport A23 Suffolk on 18 October 1914
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll2nd Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularA descendant of a French Refugee during the religious wars in the 16th Century - who settled in Lincoln, England.
FateKilled in Action 2 May 1915
Place of death or woundingGallipoli, Turkey
Date of death2 May 1915
Age at death37
Age at death from cemetery records37
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Lone Pine Memorial (Panel 19), Gallipoli, Turkey

The Lone Pine Memorial, situated in the Lone Pine Cemetery at Anzac, is the main Australian Memorial on Gallipoli, and one of four memorials to men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Designed by Sir John Burnet, the principal architect of the Gallipoli cemeteries, it is a thick tapering pylon 14.3 metres high on a square base 12.98 metres wide. It is constructed from limestone mined at Ilgardere in Turkey.

The Memorial commemorates the 3268 Australians and 456 New Zealanders who have no known grave and the 960 Australians and 252 New Zealanders who were buried at sea after evacuation through wounds or disease. The names of New Zealanders commemorated are inscribed on stone panels mounted on the south and north sides of the pylon, while those of the Australians are listed on a long wall of panels in front of the pylon and to either side. Names are arranged by unit and rank.

The Memorial stands over the centre of the Turkish trenches and tunnels which were the scene of heavy fighting during the August offensive. Most cemeteries on Gallipoli contain relatively few marked graves, and the majority of Australians killed on Gallipoli are commemorated here.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
34
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: George and Jane VERGETTE. Native of Peakirk, Peterborough, England
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli

Statement, Red Cross File No 2820104H, 669 Pte J.H. PEACOCK, D Company, 2nd Bn (patient, 16th Stationary Hospital, Mudros), 4 November 1915: 'Informant, who knew him well, says he was wounded in the hip by shrapnel on April 25th about 1½ miles inland. It did not seem a very bad wound though he was unable to walk. Informant was on the Peninsula until July and has heard no more news of him. This man was about 5'6" in height, dark hair, sallow complexion, close cut moustache. He was formerly in the Royal Marines and saw active service in China. He showed informant the wound.'

Second statement, 111 Gunner H.C. THOMPSON, 14th Field Artillery Brigade (formely D Company, 2nd Bn), 2 July 1916: 'The last time I saw him was about 2nd May, 1915. I think at Walker's Ridge. We had been brought up from the right flank to reinforce the left flank where the New Zealanders were, and he was lying down with his pack under his head beneath an overhanging cliff together with a lot of other wounded men; he appeared to be badly wounded in the body. Vergette was a short fellow, about 5'7", rather dark, and came from New South Wales, and was a married man.'

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesRed Cross File No 2820104H

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