Informal group portrait of three officers of the 24th Battalion. Identified left to right: 1057 ...

Informal group portrait of three officers of the 24th Battalion. Identified left to right: 1057 Captain (Capt) John Harry Fletcher, of Eaglehawk, Vic; Lieutenant (Lt) Joseph Lindley Scales, of Mitta Mitta, Vic; Capt John Austin Mahony (Mahoney), of Hansonville, Vic. Capt Fletcher enlisted on 8 March 1915 as a Private and embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Euripides with A Company, 24th Battalion, on 10 May 1915. He was commissioned as a captain on 1 March 1917. He was killed in action on 5 October 1918 in France; Scales enlisted on 1 February 1915 and embarked with the service number 1738 and the rank of sergeant from Melbourne with the 2nd Reinforcements aboard HMAT Demosthenes on 16 July 1915. He was awarded the Military Medal (MM) on 11 May 1917. He was commissioned as a lieutenant on 17 April 1917 and awarded the Distinguished Service order (DSO) on 26 November 1917. He returned to Australia on 4 July 1919; Mahony enlisted on 8 March 1915 as a private with the service number 1056 and embarked from Melbourne with A Company, aboard HMAT Euripides on 10 May 1915. He was commissioned as a lieutenant on 10 November 1915 with the Army Engineers and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) on 20 October 1916. He was promoted to captain on 23 May 1918 and died of wounds on 9 October 1918, in France.