29/07/2026
A fascinating story....
These stories are not known about....if they are not told.
Please, if you have similar historic stories to share....message us.
Least we forget.
Thank you John William Campion for your service 🖤🤍🖤🤍
From Kaitangata to the Western Front: The Story of John William Campion service number 8/175.
John William Campion was a coal miner’s labourer from Kaitangata, a small southern town where life was hard. Born in 1892 near Gore, he was a steady man—5 foot 6 and a half inches tall, with brown hair and eyes to match. When war came in August 1914, John was among the first to answer the call.
He enlisted at Milton, near Dunedin and soon found himself far from home, sailing with the Otago Infantry to the heat and dust of Egypt. Promoted early to lance corporal, he showed promise—but after a few months turned his stripe in at his own request .
In April 1915, John landed at Gallipoli.
There, on the harsh slopes above Anzac Cove, he faced the brutal reality of war. He survived the fighting at Dead Man’s Ridge, the Daisy Patch, trench tours of Courtney’s and Quinn’s Posts but during the great August offensive, he was struck down by a gunshot wound to the thigh. Evacuated to Lemnos, he battled not only injury but disease, falling seriously ill with dysentery. By September, he was aboard a hospital ship bound for England, his war seemingly over.
But it wasn’t.
After months of recovery in Manchester, John returned to duty in early 1916, rejoining his comrades in Egypt. Soon after, he transferred to the New Zealand Machine Gun Corps—a unit that would place him at the heart of some of the war’s fiercest fighting.
By August 1916, he was in France.
The Western Front was a different kind of nightmare—mud, wire, and relentless artillery. At Étaples, he briefly served as a cook, a small moment of routine amid chaos, though not without trouble—discipline and drink earned him a reprimand. Soon enough, he was back where he was needed most: in the line.
Through the long years that followed, John endured it all—Messines, Passchendaele, the desperate fighting of the German Spring Offensive, and the relentless push of 1918. Wounded again in August 1918, he returned quickly to his unit, his resilience clear.
This time, his leadership did not go unnoticed.
Promotions came swiftly—Lance Corporal, Corporal, Sergeant—and by November 1918, he had risen to Company Sergeant Major, a position of trust and responsibility earned through years of hardship and experience.
When the guns finally fell silent, John marched with the New Zealand Division into Germany as part of the Allied occupation. He had survived nearly five years of war.
In early 1919, his journey came full circle. From the battlefields of Europe, he returned to England, marched through Sling Camp, and boarded the troopship Hororata for home.
The boy from Kaitangata had become a seasoned soldier.
John William Campion lived a long life after the war, he married, raised two children and was a foreman for the railways at McNab before retiring to Gore. He passed away in Gore in 1976.
