Jerkin with bullet hole : Brigadier General J Paton, 7th Brigade AIF

Place Europe: France, Picardie, Somme, Albert Bapaume Area, Flers
Accession Number RELAWM10203
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Uniform
Physical description Cotton, Leather, Plastic
Maker Unknown
Date made c 1914-1916
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Australian Army officer's private purchase brown leather jerkin (vest). The leather has been pressed with a grained pattern. At the bottom of both of the front panels there is a simple patch pocket with a flap. The 7 plastic buttons on the front opening are concealed. Pale green and brown tartan cotton twill fabric has been used to line the jerkin. A bullet passed through the jerkin (and its wearer), entering just below and behind the right armpit, and exiting near the middle of the back. It has left a 45mm long slit where it entered, and a 80mm by 30mm messy hole where it exited. Blood has stained the area below the two holes.

History / Summary

John Paton was an infantry colonel with the New South Wales militia when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 16 March 1915. He was in command of the 25th Battalion and in September 1915 arrived in Gallipoli. He temporarily commanded the 7th Brigade from 15 October, and was in command of the Rear Party during the evacuation of Anzac. He was in the last steamboat to leave. On 1 January 1916, he was promoted to colonel and temporary brigadier general.

Paton arrived in France on 19 March 1916. He led his brigade in the attacks on Pozieres Heights, and was seriously wounded by a German sniper at Flers on the 5 November 1915. He was evacuated to England to recover. Paton was wearing this vest when he was wounded. Paton then commanded the 17th Brigade from May to July 1917 before returning to take over the 6th Brigade in Belgium and France. He led them in the attacks on Broodseinde, Passchendaele and Ville-sur-Ancre. He was twice temporarily in command of the 2nd Division.

Paton returned to Australia on 24 August 1918 due to poor health. He received a Companion order of the Bath for his services in Gallipoli (1916) and the Companion Order of St. Michael and St. George (1918). He was also mentioned in dispatches three times and awarded the Order of St Stanislaus (Russia). Paton also worked in a part-time capacity for the Australian Military Forces, temporarily commanding the 5th and 1st Infantry Brigades, and then the 2nd Division. He finally retiring in 1926 with the honorary rank of major general. Paton died on 21 November 1943.