John Arthur Butcher

Personal Information
Date of Birth	not known
Place of Birth	West Perth, Western Australia
Age at Enlistment	20 years, 8 months
Description	5'8¾" (1.75m) tall; weight 126 lbs (57.2kg); dark complexion, brown eyes, black hair.
Occupation	bush carpenter
Religion	Church of Christ
Next of Kin	Father Mr John Robert Butcher
Military Information
Reg Number	5062
Date of Enlistment	10 Jan 1916
Rank	Driver
Unit/Formation	16th Battalion, 16th Reinforcement transferred to the Camel Corps
Date of Embarkation	31 Mar 1916
Ship Embarked On	HMAT A9 Shropshire
Date of Return	26 Jul 1919
Ship Returned On	HMT Burma
Fate	Returned to Australia
Monument	Kelmscott
Medals	British War Medal Victory Medal

War Service

After about 10 weeks of basic training in Australia John was allocated to the 16th reinforcement draft for the 16th Battalion and travelled with them to Egypt, where on 24 Apr 1916 he entered the 4th Training Battalion.

On 5 May 1916 he was transferred to the Anzac battalion, of the Camel Corps at Tel-el-Kebir, and a fortnight later he was allotted to their 2nd Company, and embarked in Alexandria for Solum. He remained with them until 17 Jun 1918 when he returned to Moascar and in July joined the Central Training Depot before being re-assigned to the 2nd Field Squadron of the Engineers.

He spent a week with their training unit before joining the 2nd Field Squadron proper on 25 Jul 1918. On 3 Sep 1918 he was appointed a Driver, before a short stay in hospital with malaria from 10 - 18 Oct 1918.

Back in Australia his only blemish was an AWOL charge from 10:30pm 20 Sep 1919 until 10:30 pm 21 Sep 1919, for which he forfeited a day's pay.

Discharged by 5th Military District on 12 Aug 1919.