John French (1914-1942) was typical of many single young men who had enlisted early in the war. He went on to serve in Britain, Egypt, and Libya. By the time that he was sent to Papua in August 1942, he was an experienced infantry non-commissioned officer.

In early September French's company came across Japanese positions near Goroni and was held up by intense fire from three machine-gun posts. Ordering his own section to take cover, French successfully assaulted two positions with grenades. He then attacked the third with a sub-machine gun but finally fell dead in front of the enemy gun pit. He is buried in the Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery.