8th Battalion
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John Lawrence Holderhead (SN 6531) had been placed in the Ballarat Orphanage after the death of his parents. He was a miner, aged 28, when he enlisted on July 15th 1916. He sailed from Melbourne on October 2nd 1916 on the Nestor, and served through the war with the 8th Battalion. After the war, in 1919, he returned to the Western Front battlefields, working with the Burial and Graves Registration Unit, before returning safely to Australia. He also served as VX13224 in the Second World War.
Lucas’s Staffs Appreciation of Brave Men, the original Avenue register, records his name as John L. Holdhead.
