Arnold, Jonas Price
The son of Ann and William of Shoalhaven Street, Kiama, 'Junie' was a labourer and a farmer and, for a few years, a porter on the railways.
Junie was an active member of the Kiama Rifle Club and Kiama Football Club, and he was a forward for the Kiama rugby team.
Junie enlisted in the 2nd Battalion A.I.F. on 21 August 1914, at the age of 22, and was assigned the rank of Private.
The 2nd Battalion B Company was raised within a fortnight of the declaration of war in August 1914 and troops embarked just two months later, on 18 October 1914, onboard HMATA23 Suffolk. After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, where they arrived on 8 December 1914. On 1 January 1915, Jonas Arnold was appointed to the rank of Lance Corporal. Whilet he was in Cairo, Jonas sought treatment at the No. 2 Australian General Hospital Mena House suffering from influenza. He had been admitted on 17 March and was discharged on 1 April 1915.
The battalion took part in the ANZAC Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1915 as part of the second and third waves, and on 21 May 1915, Junie was promoted to the rank of Corporal.
While he was serving overseas, Jonas’s mother, Ann Arnold nee. Price, passed away on 24 July 1915 from heart failure and pulmonary congestion. It is unknown if news of her death reached her son on the front.
Corporal Arnold’s 2nd Battalion was chosen to take part in the initial assault on Lone Pine between 6 and 10 August 1915. After gaining possession of the main enemy line, the Australians were subjected to a series of determined counter-attacks which would last the next three days, which, although successfully repulsed, proved very costly for the Australians. The 2nd Battalion suffered considerably. Having started the action with 22 officers and 560 other ranks, they lost 21 officers and 409 other ranks killed or wounded.
Jonas Arnold was injured during this action. There were reports that he had been assessed by a medical station and had been stretchered out when another Turkish shell exploded nearby. No trace of Jonas Arnold was ever found and, despite a report back to his family that he had been evacuated to England, there was no evidence found that he survived the Lone Pine attack. As is the case with so many soldiers, there are numerous letters on file from family members attempting to resolve what had happened to him.
Military board proceedings conducted on 24 August 1915 confirmed the cause of death as Killed in Action on the Gallipoli Peninsula during the attack between 6 and 9 August 1915.
Jonas Price Arnold’s personal effects were received by his father on 5 August 1916. The package is reported to have contained photos, post cards, a letter, testament and a linen bag.
When Jonas's father, William James Arnold, passed away on 31 March 1921 at Kiama Hospital from septicaemia, Jonas’ brother William Henry Arnold took over as next of kin as records and effects were managed post war and William Arnold continued to seek information on what had happened to his brother.
A letter by Junie’s brother to the Australian Army: '… wounded in the Lone Pine battle, got first aid and left for dressing station with five other men to get fixed up. A shell burst on their way and there was nothing heard of them afterwards, as the Turks took the ground. The fighting was so great that no one ever got to see what happened. It was an officer that took my father this information of Corporal Arnold. My father Warrant Officer Arnold died on 31st March 1921 at Kiama. As I am the only survivor of the family, I am supplying you the information the best I can. Any correspondence in connection with the late Private Arnold would you kindly forward to W.H. Arnold, Fire Station. Garfield Street. Five Dock. Sydney.'
In September 1923, Jonas’ brother William received confirmation that the Imperial War Graves Commission was to erect a permanent headstone, engraved ‘Believed to be buried in this Cemetery’, which was the Lone Pine Cemetery, Gallipoli.