Studio portrait of 3418 Sergeant (Sgt) John Lamb Mehaffey of Naracoorte SA who enlisted as a ...

Studio portrait of 3418 Sergeant (Sgt) John Lamb Mehaffey of Naracoorte SA who enlisted as a Private in the AIF on 4 August 1915. Pte Mehaffey embarked in Adelaide on 27 October 1915 as an acting Corporal with the 11th Reinforcements to the 10th Battalion bound for Egypt and on arrival was promoted to Acting Sergeant. When the AIF was re-organised in early 1916 he was transferred to the 50th Battalion, he reverted to the ranks, although he was quickly promoted to Corporal and sailed with the 50th Battalion on 5 June 1916 on board HMT Arcadian bound for Marseilles. After arrival in France he was promoted Sergeant on 9 July 1916. On 2 April 1917 Sgt Mehaffey was first reported as missing in action, amended to killed in action, when the details of his death in fighting on the outskirts of the French village of Noreuil were eventually reported. It is recorded in his file; "Buried in Australian Military Cemetery on outskirts of village and big cross erected by the Battalion." It is likely his grave was destroyed in subsequent fighting as today Sgt Mehaffey has no know grave. His name is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux, France. In the Roll of Honour circular completed by his mother she recorded that his brother, Pte C.W. Mehaffey, 6th Field Ambulance, was killed in Belgium the same year on 5 November 1917.