John Joseph Scully
Rank:
Sapper
Serial No:
Serial No. 26365
Regiment:
1st Field Artillery Brigade, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade & 6th Railway Operating CompanY
Suburb:
Campbelltown
John Joseph Scully - Information
John Joseph was born in Campbelltown c1887 to parents Michael and Ellen Scully. When the war began, John was living at 50 O'Connell St in Newtown with his wife, Mary, and working as a locomotive fireman. When he was 28, he decided to enlist in the AIF at Marrickville on the 17th of April 1916. John was posted to the 19th Reinforcements, 1st Field Artillery Brigade as a Gunner. He then embarked Sydney onboard the HMAT Mashobra on the 14th of September 1916.
John arrived at Plymouth in early November. The following month, he was marched out to the Bulford School for further instruction. He was then shipped to France via Folkestone in March 1917, and was taken on strength to the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade in April. He fought bravely on the Western Front. The success of the 1917 campaigns at Messines and Ypres in Belgium relied heavily on bombardments destroying enemy defences and creeping barrages protecting advancing infantry. In March 1918, he was transferred to the 6th Railway Operating Company. In October, John acquired leave, and was still in Blighty when the Armistice was announced. Receiving treatment for jaundice, he was then sent back to Australia on the 1st of April with pyrexia. He was discharged in June, and was able to return to his family.