KNIGHT, John

John Knight was the son of Ernest Knight and his wife, Madge (Margaret), nee Hughes. He enlisted in his home town, Perth, and his only connection with East Melbourne seems to have been his father, who lived in Victoria Parade, East Melbourne. John Knight was 21 years and 11 months old, single, a labourer by occupation and Church of England by religion. It is possible that he both lived and worked at the Salvation Army Federal Training College in Perth.

He enlisted early in the war, on 31st December, 1914, and following training, embarked for active service as a Private with the 4th Reinforcements, 14th Battalion. He must have impressed his superiors, because he was promoted to Acting Sergeant on 10th August, 1914, probably on the trip over, reverting to Private on 16th October, 1914. The new recruits were taken on strength at Mudros, Egypt, just in time for the closing stages of the Gallipoli campaign, when the Australian troops were in a holding position until their removal to Egypt in December that year. On 24 October, John Knight was ill, having come down with influenza on 24 October. It is not clear where he was taken or when he recovered.

John Knight became ill again just prior to the withdrawal. On 6th December he was taken to hospital afflicted with sleeplessness, dizziness, headaches and vomiting.  He stayed only three days in hospital before he returned to the 14th Battalion. With the Gallipoli withdrawal, the battalions were reorganised and new recruits brought in. John Knight left Mudros for Alexandria on 6 January, 1916. On 7 April, he was taken on strength with the 46th Battalion. The 46th was formed in February, 1916,  and drew most of its experienced personnel from the 14th Battalion as part of the expansion of the Australian Imperial Force in Egypt following the Gallipoli withdrawal. 

On June 2nd, John Knight and his Battalion received orders to proceed to France where for the next two and a half years,  they took part in fighting on the Western Front. Their first major battle was at Pozieres in August, 1916, carrying ammunition to the  2nd Division troops in the front line. On 5 July, John Knight was promoted to Corporal, but was then wounded in action on 7 August, taken to the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station, then transferred back to hospital in England, his condition worsened by an attack of pneumonia. From hospital, he was sent to the No. 2 Command Depot and finally went back to France on 1 March, 1917, rejoining his battalion on 12 March, 1917.

Following Pozieres, the 46th Battalion had rotated with other battalions during the bitter winter of 1916-1917, before taking a  a front line role in the First Battle of Bullecourt (April 1917), where they suffered the worst losses of the war. On 26 June, John Knight was again promoted, this time to Sergeant. He must have done well, because on 25 September, he was again returned to England, this time, to join the Officers Cadet Battalion at Oxford. On 2 February, 1918, he was again promoted, this time to 2nd Lieutenant and was transferred to the 4th Machine Gun Battalion: 'Having qualified for commission in the infantry, (John Kinght) is appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the D.S.S. to attend the Machine Gun Course and on successful completion will be posted to Machine Gun Corps Reinforcements.'

John Knight was sent back to France on 22 April 1918 and taken on strength with the 4th Machine Gun Battalion. The Machine Gun Companies' role was to provide a line of firing in defence, and 'plunging fire' in support of attacking infantry forces, with only 3,00 yards to their targets. Because their position was so exposed, they suffered heavy casualties. It must have been a terrifying experience. On 8 August, 1918, John Knight would have taken part in the Battle of Amiens, where the Australian, British, Canadian and French forces  broke through the German lines, taking 17,000 prisoners and 339 guns. Total German losses were 30,00o men, while the Allies had 6,500 killed, wounded and missing.  On 12 August, John Knight was promoted to Corporal, and once again, wounded, though again, there is no other description in his record. 

The end of his military career with the AIF came with a charge against him on 1 October, 1918, when he was accsued of gross criminal misconduct,  that on 19 July, when drunk, he had physically assaulted a French couple, M. Jules Morel and his wife, Madame Morel-Mouillon, It was stated in the charge that  he 'broke into premises occupiede by by the Moels and , when arrested, shouted out to some soldiers - 'Fuck the Bsstards', a reference to the Military Police'.

He was sent back to England, but managed to avoid the penalty that he would otherwise have been given. He had, without warning, abandoned to AIF and on 7 October signed up to serve in the British Army. He was attested on 7 October, 1918, and was serving as No. 2230, Private J. Knight, at Marlborough Barracks in Dublin. 

This is almost the last that was heard of John Kinght. Following the war, he returned to Australia, He married Elain Frances Spence in 1938. In 1963, he was living at 68 Endeavour  St in 1938, Seven Hills NSW and in 1966 was at 9/37 Balfour St., Allaweh, Sydney, NSw. because his name is a faiurly common one, it is not possible to discover his date of death.