John Leak
John Leak VC | |
---|---|
Born | 1892 Portsmouth, United Kingdom |
Died | 20 October 1972 (aged 79–80) Redwood Park, South Australia |
Allegiance | Australia |
Service/ | Australian Imperial Force |
Years of service | 1915–1919 |
Rank | Private |
Unit | 9th Battalion |
Battles/wars | World War I
|
Awards | Victoria Cross |
John Leak,
Leak was evacuated to the United Kingdom, and did not return to his unit until October 1917. Suffering from the effects of his service, Leak was convicted of desertion by a court-martial in November, but his sentence was ultimately suspended, and he returned to the 9th Battalion. In early March 1918 he was gassed, and did not rejoin to his unit until the Armistice of 11 November 1918. He returned to Australia and was discharged in 1919.
After jobs in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia over the next twenty years, Leak settled in South Australia in 1937. He was severely affected by his war experiences, and was very reticent to discuss his VC exploits. He did not talk about his service, even to his family, until very late in life. He died in October 1972 and is buried in Stirling, South Australia.
Early life
According to his war record,[1] John Leak was born in Portsmouth, United Kingdom, around 1892,[2] although there is no record of his birth in that city.[3] He was the son of a miner, James Leak.[4][5] His parents were originally from South Wales, and apparently migrated to New South Wales, Australia, well before World War I,[6] although there is no record of his arrival in Australia.[3] By the outbreak of the war, his parents had died,[6] and Leak was living at Clermont, Queensland,[7] and working as a teamster.[2][3]
World War I
On 28 January 1915, Leak enlisted in
In March 1916, Leak and the rest of his battalion sailed for
The 9th Battalion was being held up by a pair of German machine guns. An intense bomb (
On 31 July, Leak was recommended for the award of the Victoria Cross (VC) for his actions at Pozières.[14] At that time, the VC was the highest award for gallantry in battle that could be awarded to a member of the Australian armed forces.[15]
After Pozières, the 9th Battalion was relieved, but it was back in action in mid-August during the
For most conspicuous bravery. He was one of a party which finally captured an enemy strong point. At one assault, when the enemy's bombs were outranging ours, Private Leak jumped out of the trench, ran forward under heavy machine-gun fire, and threw three bombs into the enemy's bombing post. He then jumped into the post and bayoneted three unwounded enemy bombers. Later, when the enemy in overwhelming numbers was driving his party back, he was always the last to withdraw at each stage, and kept on throwing bombs. His courage and energy had such an effect on the enemy that, on the arrival of reinforcements, the whole trench was recaptured.
— The London Gazette, September 1916
Leak was evacuated to hospital in the United Kingdom on 13 September.
On 23 March, Leak was transferred from the 9th Battalion to the 69th Battalion.[17] The 69th Battalion was being raised in the United Kingdom as part of the short-lived 16th Brigade, 6th Division, which was being formed using men who were recovering from wounds or illness in the United Kingdom.[22] In June, Leak gave evidence at the trial of an Australian soldier accused of wearing a VC ribbon on his uniform when he was not a recipient of the award. In his evidence, Leak said he had never asked the man about his VC, because "he objected to [being] questioned himself about his own deed."[18] He went absent without leave again in July, but this time only received a fine.[23] The 69th Battalion was disbanded to provide reinforcements to existing units, and on 11 August Leak was transferred back to the 9th Battalion and marched out to the Overseas Training Depot.[17]
Leak returned to the Western Front in October, after his battalion had fought in the Battles of
On 30 December 1918, after his court-martial sentence was finally remitted, Leak married Beatrice May Chapman in Cardiff, Wales.[26] On 9 February 1919, Leak and Beatrice sailed for Australia aboard the SS Ascanius,[2][27] arriving in Queensland on 26 March.[28] On 10 April, he attended a reception in his honour at Rockhampton, but declined to speak, then returned to Clermont by train.[7] He was discharged from the AIF on 31 May.[28] In addition to his VC, he received the 1914–15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.[29]
Later life and legacy
For a short time, Leak was involved in a firewood business with a couple of other returned servicemen, then spent time working in regional New South Wales. Next, he moved to remote mid-north South Australia where he found work boring wells.[30] At some point he and his wife separated; it is unknown what happened to her.[2] On 12 January 1927, he married Ada Victoria Bood-Smith; the couple were devoted to one another. In 1932, they moved to Esperance, Western Australia, where Leak worked in a garage.[30] In 1937, Leak was awarded the King George VI Coronation Medal.[31] In the same year, the Leak family moved back to South Australia, and settled near Crafers. They had eight children in total, although their first died within a year of her birth; the last was born in 1946.[30]
Leak struggled his whole life with his war experiences, and was reluctant to talk about them for many years. One of his sons observed that "World War One destroyed him."[30] He did not attend reunions or Anzac Day marches, and faded into obscurity.[2] Later in life he shared some of his experiences with his children, remembering dead comrades and also those he had killed. He stored his VC in a box in his bedroom and it largely stayed there.[30] In later life, Leak suffered from bronchitis and emphysema caused by his gassing in 1918.[4] In 1953, Leak was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.[32] In 1964, Ada died suddenly.[30] Two years later, a fake VC with Leak's name engraved on it surfaced in Melbourne, Victoria;[33] the dealer was fined for being in possession of a forged VC.[2]
On 20 October 1972, Leak died at Redwood Park and was buried alongside Ada in the Stirling cemetery.[30]
A street in
Footnotes
- ^ National Archives 2019, p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g Staunton 2005, p. 55.
- ^ a b c d e f Blanch & Pegram 2018, p. 82.
- ^ a b c Mays 1986.
- ^ Wigmore & Harding 1986, p. 84.
- ^ a b The Brisbane Courier 12 January 1917.
- ^ a b The Morning Bulletin 11 April 1919.
- ^ National Archives 2019, pp. 1–3.
- ^ a b c d Australian War Memorial 2019a.
- ^ a b c d National Archives 2019, p. 18.
- ^ Bean 1944, pp. 300–305.
- ^ Bean 1941, p. 766.
- ^ Bean 1968, pp. 140–141.
- ^ National Archives 2019, p. 30.
- ^ Wigmore & Harding 1986, p. 9.
- ^ Bean 1941, p. 802.
- ^ a b c d e National Archives 2019, p. 4.
- ^ a b Blanch & Pegram 2018, p. 83.
- ^ Blanch & Pegram 2018, p. 81.
- ^ Australian War Memorial 2019b.
- ^ The Daily Telegraph 6 November 1916.
- ^ Bean 1937, p. 17.
- ^ National Archives 2019, p. 19.
- ^ Blanch & Pegram 2018, pp. 83–84.
- ^ Stanley 2010, p. 242.
- ^ National Archives 2019, p. 5.
- ^ Wigmore & Harding 1986, p. 85.
- ^ a b National Archives 2019, p. 64.
- ^ National Archives 2019, p. 65.
- ^ a b c d e f g Blanch & Pegram 2018, p. 84.
- ^ The West Australian 12 May 1937.
- ^ The Advertiser 2 June 1953.
- ^ The Canberra Times 23 February 1966.
- ^ Brisbane City Council 2019.
- ^ Thomson 18 June 2011.
- ^ McDonald 12 November 2015.
- ^ Madden 2018, p. 108.
References
Books
- OCLC 220897812.
- Bean, C.E.W. (1941). The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1916. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Vol. 3 (12 ed.). Sydney, New South Wales: Angus & Robertson. OCLC 220898466.
- Bean, C.E.W. (1937). The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1917. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Vol. 4 (5 ed.). Sydney, New South Wales: Angus & Robertson. OCLC 216975066.
- Bean, C. E. W. (1968). Anzac to Amiens: A Shorter History of the Australian Fighting Services in the First World War (5 ed.). Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 5973074.
- Blanch, Craig; Pegram, Aaron (2018). For Valour: Australians Awarded the Victoria Cross. Sydney, New South Wales: NewSouth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-74223-542-4.
- Madden, Michael (2018). The Victoria Cross, Australia Remembers. Melbourne, Victoria: Big Sky Publishing. ISBN 978-1-925520-98-9.
- ISBN 978-1741964806.
- Staunton, Anthony (2005). Victoria Cross: Australia's Finest and the Battles they Fought. Prahran, Victoria: Hardie Grant. ISBN 978-1-74273-486-6.
- ISBN 978-0-642-99471-4.
News
- "Coronation Medals". The West Australian. Vol. 53, no. 15, 872. Western Australia. 12 May 1937. p. 17. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
- McDonald, Madeline (12 November 2015). "John Leak's Grandson Pays Tribute at Remembrance Service". The Morning Bulletin. Rockhampton, Queensland. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- "Private John Leak VC". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. XXXVI, no. 265. Tasmania, Australia. 6 November 1916. p. 6. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- "Private John Leak VC". The Morning Bulletin. No. 16, 951. Queensland, Australia. 11 April 1919. p. 9. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- "S.A. Coronation Medal List". The Advertiser. Vol. 95, no. 29, 527. South Australia. 2 June 1953. p. 5. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
- "'Spare' VC poser for Hero". The Canberra Times. Vol. 40, no. 11, 399. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 23 February 1966. p. 1. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- Thomson, Alister (18 June 2011). "War Hero Finally Gets Memorial". The Morning Bulletin. Rockhampton, Queensland. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
- "Very Proud of You". The Brisbane Courier. No. 18, 406. Queensland, Australia. 12 January 1917. p. 7. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
Websites
- "9th Australian Infantry Battalion". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- Mays, Helen (1986). "Leak, John (1892–1972)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- "NAA: B2455, Leak John". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- "Private John Leak VC, of the 9th Battalion surrounded by friends and well-wishers outside Buckingham Palace". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- "Streets of Remembrance J–P". Brisbane City Council. Retrieved 5 May 2019.