John Francis Turner was born on 24th March 1899 in the St Ouen region of the Channel Island of Jersey. He was the only surviving child of Francis and Eugenie Turner, his older brother, Francis Jr, having passed away before John was born.

Francis was a farm labourer, but when John finished his schooling, he found work as a carpenter. When war broke out across Europe, he was conscripted to play his part and, on 31st March 1917, he enlisted in the army.

Private Turner was noted as being 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall and weighing 115lbs (52kg). His medical records show that his vision was defective, but not so bad as to exclude him from service, but he was also found to have flat feet.

John was assigned to the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was sent to Blackpool, Lancashire, where he was attached to the local depot. He spent the next two years in the army, although his time was not without incident.

In December 1917, he was confined to barracks for five days for overstaying his pass by more than eight hours. This seems to have been Private Turner’s only misdemeanour, however, and there is nothing to suggest anything other than good service.

John’s time in the army does not seem to have been limited to home soil, and, in the spring of 1919, he was attached to one of the Russian convoys ferrying aid and supplies overseas. On his return, however, he fell ill, and on 2nd February, he was admitted to hospital in Edinburgh, suffering from pleurisy.

Private Turner was to remain in hospital for the next few months. He slowly recovered, but then contracted meningitis, and, with his body already weakened by illness, this was to prove his undoing. He passed away on 23rd June 1919, aged just 20 years of age.

John Francis Turner’s body was taken back to Jersey for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful churchyard of St Ouen’s.

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