The Wartime Memories Project - The Great War

Pte. James Oliver Kemp Australian Imperial Force. 34th Btn.


Great War>


This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.



    Site Home

    Great War Home

    Search

    Add Stories & Photos

    Library

    Help & FAQs

 Features

    Allied Army

    Day by Day

    RFC & RAF

    Prisoners of War

    War at Sea

    Training for War

    The Battles

    Those Who Served

    Hospitals

    Civilian Service

    Women at War

    The War Effort

    Central Powers Army

    Central Powers Navy

    Imperial Air Service

    Library

    World War Two

 Submissions

    Add Stories & Photos

    Time Capsule

 Information

    Help & FAQs



    Glossary

    Our Facebook Page

    Volunteering

    News

    Events

    Contact us

    Great War Books

    About


Advertisements

World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment

218063

Pte. James Oliver Kemp

Australian Imperial Force. 34th Btn.

from:Plattsburg, NSW

(d.18th Jul 1917)

Ol Kemp was a very loved, one of the twelve children of William and Isabella Kemp. He was carter in the Wallsend area. At the time of his enlisting he was 26 years old and single. He had a girlfriend, Amy Moodle, who posted several moving tributes, in the newspaper on the anniversary of his death. Ol apparently was involved in his community from young as there is a book awarded to him for helping building the local park for Federation celebrations. His photograph remained on the wall of his sister Ada's wall until she died in the late 1960's and was always part of our family. My grandmother, Isabella, was only 3 when he left for war and remembered him giving her a toy iron, which I still have, before he left for war. There were many letters and cards, but his sister burned all but a couple of pieces of the correspondence,not long before she died. Apparently another sister did the same, so we only know what we have been told, and that is that he was a kind and loving person.

The 34th had been relieved from the front line near Messines early on morning of 17th July, 1917. They had gone to rest area in Messines, Wellington avenue. Messines was bombed that day and he was fatally wounded by shrapnel. He was transported to the 2nd clearing Station at Steenwerck, where he died. He is buried in the Trois Arbres Cemetery. Apparently there was a letter sent to his parents, by a nurse from the hospital, who wrote that his wounds were so severe that he could not have survived. I have just returned from visiting, these and many other war sites, with an excellent, local guide and tramped these muddy fields.









Related Content:







    Can you help us to add to our records?

    The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them


    Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?

    If so please let us know.

    Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"

    We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.

    Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.




    Celebrate your own Family History

    Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.

    Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.














    The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.

    This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

    If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.


    Hosted by:

    The Wartime Memories Project Website

    is archived for preservation by the British Library





    Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
    - All Rights Reserved -

    We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.