John Loas was a Police Constable, living in East Melbourne with his parents, Joseph and Delia Loas, at 52 Albert St. He was one of eleven children, three of whom were named Joseph after their father and two, John.  Delia Waldron and Joseph Loas or De Loas had been married in 1880. Their first child, Ada Mary, was born in 1881, followed by Delia Maud (1882), Mary Jane (1883), twins Joseph and John, born 1885, died 4 February, 1886. Milanie (1887) Felix Ethym and Leona Irene (1888) , Joseph (1889), John (1890) and Emile (1895). The odd thing about this list is that when John Loas enlisted on 24 June, 1916, he gave his age as 24 and 6 months. This takes him back to either January 1892 or, perhaps, December 1891, yet no John Loas appears on the Australian Birth Index for that year. Perhaps, with so many children, there was a mistake made, either on the birth certificate or in his parents' memory.

John Loas's brother, Joseph, born 1889, was a professional soldier, serving at Queenscliff. When the war broke out, he was amongst the first to enlist, becoming No.316 on the list of recruits. Like John, Joseph was a Gunner, serving with the 36th Siege Battary R.A.G.A. 

John Loas was sent to Langarren for training, remaining there from 26 September 1916 to 10 February 1917. He ws then transferred to Royal Park for more training before embarking on HMAT 'Ballarat' A70. Once at sea, he misbehaved, spending two days AWL on board ship and being drunk. For these offences, he was given 96 hours detention with 6 days pay forfeited. After nearly two months, the troops disembarked at Devonport, England, and marched in to training with the 10th Training Battalion on 26 April. From here, he was transferred again in  on to the Machine Gun Company, situated at Grantham on 20 July, but again went AWL at Belton Park, earning himself seven days Field Patrol and a loss of 12 days pay. He was taken on strength with the 9th Company on 12 October, but was by then ill with gonorrhea, admitted to the 51st General Hospital, where he remained for 34 days befroe being discharged to duty on 8 March, 1918. He finally joined the 3rd Machine Gun Battalion on 18 April, 1918, serving at the front for the first time. 

As a result, he was at the front for the 2nd Battle of the Marne in July, 1918, as the allies, along with the fresh troops from the United States, turned the tide of war against the Germans and their allies. John Loas was given leave to London on 27 October when the war was entering its last weeks and bombing the trenches may well have almost ceased. He would have been back in France when the armistice was called on 11/11/1918, and, given his previous record,  it's  perhaps not surprising that he went AWL on 13 November and did not return to his unit until 23 February, 1919. 

John Loas was put on trial for this dereliction of duty and sentenced to 6 months detention at Lewes, England, from 6 March, 1919 in that 'he, in London on 13 November, 1918 at 6 am, failed to proceed overseas to rejoin his unti in France, as it was his duty to do, and remained absent without leave until apprehended by the Civil Power in London on 23 February, 1919'. However, on 31 May, the sentence was remitted by 95 days and he was discharged to the No. 5 Group from the Lewes Detenti0on Centre. From here, he was admitted sick to Weymouth before marchign in to the no. 3 Group Codford and on 4 July, 1919 embarked for Australia on board the 'Wiltshire'. However, when they stopped at Cape Town, South Africa, he again went AWL for four days, before boarding another ship, the 'Zealandic', rejoining the 'Wiltshire' at Durban on 29 July. Again, he was charged with AWL, but the case was dismissed, the authorities presumably thinking it was a waste of time.

John Loas disembarked at Melbourne on 19 August, 1919, and was discharged from the AIF on 26 September, 1919. Once home, he rejoined the Police force, serving from 1919 as a Police Constable at Bourke St. West. He married his wife Kathleen Constance around 1924, and for much of his life continued to live in East Melbourne, at 174 Simpson St. in 1924, 210 Clarendon St. in 1931, in 1954 at 72 Hotham St., employed variously as a labourer and a driver. He died in Heidelberg, Victoria, probably at the Repatriation Hospital, in 1964, aged 74.