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John Luck - Information

John Luck was born in Appin c1869. When the war began, John was living in Helensburgh with his wife, Mary, and working as a butcher. At the age of 46, he joined the AIF at Holsworthy on the 21st of September 1915. Due to his horse skills, he was made a Trooper with the 5th Squad, 2nd Remount Unit. He was then shipped out from Sydney on the 10th of November 1915 onboard the HMAT Orsova. In Egypt, John’s unit was responsible for training and providing provisions for horses and mules. These mounts required specific training in order to respond to their rider and serve as part of a cavalry, mounted infantry or transport unit. As you could imagine, horses in combat also get scared. They were trained to overcome flee responses and ignore gun and artillery fire. On the 9th of October 1916, John was marched out to Moascar Camp from Heliopolis. A week later, the Remount Units were transferred to Australia, John was then sent home, leaving Suez aboard the Vestalia. When he reached Australia, he was discharged from military service on the 9th of December 1916.