John Rankin Gibb (SN 979) was born at Newstead and was a 21 year old farmer when he enlisted in Melbourne on March 29th 1915. Assigned to the 24th Battalion he embarked from Melbourne aboard the Euripides on May 10th bound for Gallipoli where he served for the final months of that campaign. In June 1916 he reached France where he sustained a gunshot wound to his wrist in August, necessitating his evacuation to hospital in England. A series of absent without leave charges and periods of illness marked the next year of his service. In February 1918 he was returned to France but on March 22nd he was wounded for a second time, gassed, and once again evacuated to England. He returned to Australia after the war and was discharged on April 21st 1919.

Lucas’s Staffs Appreciation of Brave Men, the original Avenue register, records his name as John R. Gibbs.