b. 04/09/1889 Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia. d. 05/11/1957 Melbourne, Australia.
DATE OF AM ACTION: 09/03/1917 Rutoire Plain, near Loos, France.
John D P Campbell
MC AM
John was the son of Frederick Alexander and Mary Campbell (nee Pitts). He was educated at Melbourne C of E Grammar School from 1902-1906 after which he went to Gippsland working on a cattle station as a jackeroo. He embarked to England arriving on 2nd August 1915, and was sent to France on 12th January 1916, having enlisted with the Royal Field Artillery as a 2nd Lieutenant on 13th August 1915. Soon after his AM action, he was promoted to Major on 30th October 1917. On 1st February 1919 he was gazetted for the Military Cross. He returned to Australia following demobilisation on 4th September 1919.
He settled in Camperdown, Victoria, and on 10th September 1927, he married Doris May Reid at St Stephen’s Church, Sydney. Their only son, John Leslie Pitts Campbell was born in 1931. They later had a daughter, Rosemary Ann. John died in 1957 and was cremated at Springvale Crematorium.
AM CITATION:
On the 9th March 1917, in the Rutoire Plain, near Loos, a British aeroplane fell to the ground and turned completely over, throwing out the pilot and bursting into flames. The machine gun ammunition caught fire, with the result that bullets were flying in all directions. Lieutenant Campbell ran up and at great personal risk dragged the pilot, who was wounded, out of danger. He then placed him in a neighbouring dug-out, sent for medical assistance, and organised a party of stretcher-bearers to carry him to a dressing-station.
BURIAL LOCATION: SPRINGVALE CREMATORIUM, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
Acknowledgement:
Paul Street – Image of John Dudley Pitts Campbell MC AM.