John Albert Wetzlar was born in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, in the spring of 1895. One of four children, his parents were Ernest and Annie Wetzlar.

Little information about John’s life is available, and most of the detail that can be pieced together comes from his First World War service records. These confirm that he was working as a clerk when he enlisted on 14th July 1915. John’s medical record shows that he was 5ft 4.5ins (1.63m) and weighed 8st 5lbs (53kg). He had brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

Private Wetzlar set sail for Europe on 8th February 1916, arriving with his unit in Alexandria, Egypt, six weeks later and landing in Marseille, France, on 31st March. Attached to the 23rd Battalion of the Australian Infantry, by the end of June, he found himself on the front line.

On 22nd August 1916, John’s unit was caught up in fighting, and he was wounded by shrapnel in his right leg. He was admitted to the 4th Australian Field Ambulance unit, before being transferred to the No 1. Canadian General Hospital in Etaples. His injuries required more care, however, and he was medically evacuated to Britain, and was sent to the 2nd General Hospital in Manchester.

Private Wetzlar spent the next six months recuperating, only re-joining his unit back in France on 10th March 1917. Back on the Western Front, he was promoted to Lance Corporal on 9th June, and to full Corporal four months later.

In January 1918, John was transferred back to Britain. Details are sketchy, but it may be that his experience was used to help train new recruits, as he was billeted at Tidworth Camp in Wiltshire. He remained on British soil until May, when he was sent to the Western Front for a third time.

Corporal Wetzlar’s time in France was to be fated. On 1st September 1918, John was wounded a second time, when he received a gun shot injury to his right leg once more. Medically evacuated back to Britain, he was admitted to Bath War Hospital in Somerset. The injury was severe enough to warrant an operation, and the damaged limb was amputated.

During his recovery, Corporal Wetzlar contracted influenza and pneumonia and, tragically, given what he had been through, these were to prove fatal. John died on 23rd October 1918: he was 22 years of age.

Thousands of miles from the home he had left nearly three years before, John Albert Wetzlar was laid to rest in the military section of Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery, alongside other from his homeland.

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