Pioneers of Australian Armour by David A Finlayson & Michael K Cecil

Author:David A Finlayson & Michael K Cecil
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Big Sky Publishing
Published: 2015-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

John Anthony Driscoll

John Anthony Driscoll was born in Delegate, NSW, on 25 May 1896, the son of John and Lucy Driscoll. At the time of his enlistment in 1915 he was a labourer residing in Surry Hills.

Driscoll enlisted in the AIF in Liverpool on 28 December 1915 and was allotted to the 19th Reinforcements, 7th Light Horse Regiment. He embarked for overseas service on 8 July 1916 aboard the HT Mongolia in Sydney, disembarking at Port Said on 11 August. On arrival he was taken on strength by the 2nd Light Horse Brigade Training Regiment at Moascar. On 25 August he was posted to the 7th Light Horse Regiment.

On the night of 15 November he was found asleep and drunk while on guard duty and court-martialled on 20 November at Hassaniya. He was found guilty on both charges and sentenced to nine months’ hard labour. The court recommended a commutation of sentence due to his very good character and the fact that, as he was virtually a teetotaller, he was unused to alcohol and had fallen asleep as a consequence. He served his sentence at the Cairo Detention Barracks from 30 November 1916.

On 20 March 1917 Driscoll’s sentence was suspended and he was released from the Detention Barracks and returned to his regiment. He was immediately detached for duty with the Divisional Army Service Corps (ASC) Train and then, on 10 June, to the 1st Australian Light Car Patrol. He returned to the 7th Light Horse on 20 July. On 21 August he was detached to the AIF Railway Construction Section between 21 August 1917 and 31 July 1918 when he was posted to the 2nd Light Horse Brigade Training Regiment at Moascar. In September he was hospitalised with influenza at the 14th Australian General Hospital. He rejoined his regiment on 14 October. On 10 December he boarded the Indarra at Port Said for the Dardanelles where he served with the occupation force. On 26 January 1919 he embarked at Chanak, Turkey, aboard the HT Kandy, disembarking in Alexandria on 2 February.90

Driscoll boarded the HT Madras at Kantara, Egypt, on 26 June and disembarked in Sydney on 3 August. He was discharged on 18 September. For his military service he was entitled to the British War and Victory Medals and Returned Soldier’s Badge.91

On his return to Australia Driscoll initially lived in Sydney where he worked as a labourer and rabbiter. He married Louisa Harmer at Paddington, Sydney, in 1920. Their first child died in infancy that same year. While there appear to be no records of a divorce or annulment of Driscoll’s marriage, Louisa died in Tumut in 1959 under her maiden name. On 21 October 1926 he married Vera Kerr in Tasmania. As with many returned soldiers, the 1920s and the Great Depression that followed saw Driscoll and his family suffer considerable difficulties and hardships, and the electoral rolls show numerous residences in Surry Hills, Botany and Helensburg between 1927 and the outbreak of the Second World War.

At the height of the Great Depression it appears Driscoll’s fortunes completely failed him.

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