218063 Pte. James Oliver Kemp Australian Imperial Force. 34th Btn. from:Plattsburg, NSW (d.18th Jul 1917) Ol Kemp was a very loved, one of the twelve children of William and Isabella Kemp. He was carter in the Wallsend area. At the time of his enlisting he was 26 years old and single. He had a girlfriend, Amy Moodle, who posted several moving tributes, in the newspaper on the anniversary of his death. Ol apparently was involved in his community from young as there is a book awarded to him for helping building the local park for Federation celebrations. His photograph remained on the wall of his sister Ada's wall until she died in the late 1960's and was always part of our family. My grandmother, Isabella, was only 3 when he left for war and remembered him giving her a toy iron, which I still have, before he left for war. There were many letters and cards, but his sister burned all but a couple of pieces of the correspondence,not long before she died. Apparently another sister did the same, so we only know what we have been told, and that is that he was a kind and loving person.
The 34th had been relieved from the front line near Messines early on morning of 17th July, 1917. They had gone to rest area in Messines, Wellington avenue. Messines was bombed that day and he was fatally wounded by shrapnel. He was transported to the 2nd clearing Station at Steenwerck, where he died. He is buried in the Trois Arbres Cemetery. Apparently there was a letter sent to his parents, by a nurse from the hospital, who wrote that his wounds were so severe that he could not have survived.
I have just returned from visiting, these and many other war sites, with an excellent, local guide and tramped these muddy fields.
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