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Charles Johnston - Information

Charles Johnston lived at The Rocks on Guernsey Ave in Campbelltown with his family, and worked as a blacksmith. He then decided to enlist in the AIF in Holsworthy on the 12th of August 1915. He was allocated to the 2nd Battalion as a Private and was shipped out from Sydney Harbour on the 30th of December 1915 aboard the HMAT Medic.

Charles arrived in Egypt, where he was marched into the Training Battalion at Zeitoun. From there, he was transferred to the 56th Battalion (his brother, Adolf’s Unit) at Tel-el-Kebir in March 1916. He spent much time throughout 1916 training, however, he started to become very ill. By January 1917, he reported to hospital with inflamed intestines. After treatment, Charles returned to duty in March, and was in France by December. Charles reunited with the 56th Battalion and Adolf. They experienced the bloody fighting of 1918, watching Adolf become severely wounded in April. Then as the Australian Corps were closing in on the retreating Germans, he was badly wounded on the 6th of July 1918. He received a nasty gun shot wound to his right leg and was transported to England. Complications arose when Charles’ foot turned blue and his ankle joint became stiff and sore causing him to limp around. Consequently, he was declared medically unfit for active service, and was sent home to Australia on the 4th of January 1919.