James McCormick MM (SN 4889) born at Allendale, was a single 21 year old groom when he enlisted in Ballarat on July 20th 1915. Attached to the 14th Infantry Battalion, he embarked from Melbourne, on board the Anchises on March 14th 1916 and reached the battlefields of France in July 1916. He was a courageous soldier earning a Military Medal, his citation, in part reading, ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty on 11th April 1918. At daylight the enemy put down an extremely heavy barrage on our front line and supports causing dislocation of communications. This soldier acting as Battalion Headquarters Runner carried messages from headquarters to the front line under heavy shell fire showing complete disregard for his own personal safety and in addition supplied reliable personal reports of forward conditions. He has previously done fine work as a runner and no enemy fire has yet present him from delivering his messages.' Just a week after the signing of the Armistice, while still in France, he was charged with striking a superior officer then it seems he lost his Military Medal while on his way home. Fortunately it was picked up in Cape Town, South Africa, by a Malay washerwoman who handed to a military official who arranged its return to James. He returned home aboard the Armagh, disembarked at Melbourne on May 18th 1919 and was discharged on July 2nd1919.

Lucas’s Staffs Appreciation of Brave Men, the original Avenue register, records his name as James McCormack.