Australian World War 1 Army Identity Tag – J.F. SIMMONS 3125

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Unofficial World War 1 AIF ID disc made from an Italian 1867 10 Centesimi (KM#11.5). Reverse has been crudely scraped off around the periphery which was then stamped with:

SIMONS J.F.J.
43 A.I.
3125

John Francis Simmons (notice spelling error on ID disc) tried enlisting into the AIF in May 1916 and seems to have been accepted into the service before the Army realised he was only 15 years old! Interestingly his mother gave her permission for him to enlist at that tender age. In February 1917 he re-enlisted in South Australia into the 7th Reinforcements, 43 Australian Infantry Battalion. Simmons shipped out of Australia in June of the same year before arriving in Great Britain in August. He served with a British Engineering Battalion for almost a year before shipping out to France in June 1918. In August he was wounded in action (gunshot wound to the nose) before being transferred to the Australian Corps Working Party and then from the AIF in 1919.

Simmons served again in WW2 enlisting in May 1942 and serving until September 1945.

John Francis Simmons

National Archives of Australia – John Francis Simmons Service Records.

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