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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Lt. John Adams MC MID.
Australian Imperial Force 54th Infantry Battalion
from:Australia
John Adams was born at Combe Florey, Somerset, England, on 26th September 1890. Prior to the First World War he emigrated to Australia and worked as a valet.
He had served with the Royal Navy for two-and-a-half years before he he enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on 18th August 1914, a month before his 24th birthday. It was around this time that he also started documenting his experiences in his diary, a practice that he would continue until mid-1916. After two months of training he departed Sydney with the 2nd Infantry Battalion aboard HMAT Suffolk on 18th October 1914.
The 2nd Battalion were part of the second and third waves sent ashore at Gallipoli on 25th April 1915. He writes extensively about the landing in his diary, particularly about the confusion that pervaded the initial stages and his attempts to find members of his battalion during the subsequent days. Although Adams remained with his unit until the evacuation in December 1915, he was wounded on several occasions. During the battle of Lone Pine in August the glass of the periscope he was looking through was shattered and his eyesight was damaged. In September 1915 he was knocked unconscious by a loop-hole plate sent flying by shell-fire.
After being transferred to the newly formed 54th Infantry Battalion in February 1916, Adams served during its first major engagement on the Western Front, the disastrous battle of Fromelles. He was promoted to lieutenant on 2nd August 1916, having risen quickly through the non-commissioned ranks. In April 1917 he was Mentioned in the Despatches of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, for his work as an intelligence officer with 14th Brigade headquarters and also for his actions at Fromelles. This was followed by the receipt of the Military Cross in June 1918 for his work as an intelligence officer during the winter campaign on the Somme and his subsequent conduct in Belgium during 1917 on return to his battalion. It was reported that his "fearlessness, gallantry and devotion to duty" left a good impression on those with whom he came into contact. Adams was later awarded a bar to his Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry and brilliant leadership during the operations at Peronne" in 1918, where he was wounded while rushing a machine-gun post.
After the war he left for Australia on 6th May 1919, though he would briefly return to England to be married. John Adams died at the age of 90 at Concord, New South Wales, on 21st June 1981.
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