Jack Wood

Service number: 299, 1370

Rank: Sergeant

Unit: 20th Battalion

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Source: National Archives of Australia

John (Jack) Wood was born at West Ham, London in 1891 and was a mason’s labourer. He enlisted on 14 August 1914 and served with the Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in New Guinea up to March 1915. He re-enlisted on 19 March 1915, giving as next of kin his mother living at Melbourne Street, Manly.

He embarked on 26 June 1915 and was at Gallipoli from 23 August to evacuation. He was promoted to Corporal on 14 July 1915 and Sergeant on 9 December 1915. He was wounded in the head on 14 November 1916 and hospitalised in England, before being returned to Australia on the Nestor on 22 July 1917.

In a letter to military authorities in 1969 he stated that he had had the task of selecting the final forty men who were to cover the evacuation from Gallipoli. Manly Daily 31 August 1917 stated:

“Mrs A Wood of Brook Road, Balgowlah has been notified by the Defence Department that her son Sergeant-Major Jack Wood is returning to Australia very shortly. Sergeant-Major Wood has been on active service since June 26 1915. Prior to that he was at Rabaul, New Guinea.”