Company Quartermaster Sergeant

Joel Reginald Eade

Rod Martin

July 1915 saw the enlistment of 36 575 men in the Australian Imperial Force.  It was to be the record number of recruits during the First World War – up from an average of 8,000 over the first four months of that year.  This rush to the recruiting stations occurred for a number of reasons.  First, the sheer sense of patriotism and pride engendered by the attack at Gallipoli caused many young men to want to be involved.  Secondly, this desire was heightened by a sense that things were going badly at Anzac Cove, and the men there needed more support.  An active propaganda campaign by the federal government contributed to this mood.

1915 recruitment poster  Australian War Memorial Collection

 Thirdly, international anger had increased when it was reported that a German submarine had sunk the British liner Lusitania off the coast of southern Ireland in April.  Around 1,100 men, women and children had perished in the icy waters of the Atlantic and their deaths sparked outrage across the world.  (Significantly, the newspapers did not report the facts that the ship was carrying war materiel and that the Germans had published a warning that they considered it a legitimate military target.).

Jackeroo Joel Eade decided that he had to do his bit for king and empire, so he joined up on 12 July.  Aged twenty-one, he was a big man for his time, six foot (180 cm) and ninety-one kilos, with brown hair and grey eyes.  He had spent four years in senior cadets, so he had a good grounding in military tactics and matters.  He was initially assigned to 16 Depot Battalion at Bendigo, but was transferred to 14 Reinforcements of 6 Battalion in December 1915, and appointed an acting sergeant on 4 January 1916.  He had obviously revealed potential as a leader at an early stage.

14 Reinforcements sailed for the Middle East on A32 HMAT Themistocles on 28 January, arriving at Alexandria one month later.  Having returned from Gallipoli the previous December, the AIF was undergoing reorganization in light of all the new recruits arriving on troopships.  As part of this, Joel was reassigned to the newly formed 58 Battalion and promoted to the rank of company  quartermaster sergeant.  58 Battalion was composed partly of 6 Battalion Gallipoli veterans and partly of the newly arrived reinforcements.  Being mostly made up of Victorians, the new battalion was attached to 15 Brigade, led by Brigadier-General Harold ‘Pompey’ Elliott.

Joel’s new position meant that he was in charge of supplies for his company and second only to the company sergeant-major as the leading non-commissioned officer.  Despite a lowly start as a jackeroo on a cattle or sheep station, he had very quickly established his organizational skills and risen through the ranks at a rapid rate.  His potential seemed obvious.

And then the troubles began.  Only five days after his promotion he was hospitalized with an ingrown toenail.  That was okay.  After all, it could happen to anyone.  Soon after, on 17 April, he was diagnosed with gout – usually an arthritic condition that affects much older people.  Then, on 6 May, he was hospitalized again, this time suffering from astigmatism (blurred vision).  Ten days later he had the ‘flu.  Finally, he was diagnosed with neurasthenia, a psychological disorder characterized by chronic fatigue and weakness and generalized aches and pains.  In those days, he may have been said to have been suffering from ‘nerves’.  Today we would call it a nervous breakdown, affecting his whole system.  The term ‘neurasthenia’ is no longer used in medical circles.

Sensing a major problem, the army had instituted a medical board of inquiry in the first week of June.  It found that Joel had suffered from rheumatic fever when he was eighteen, and this had caused him to have a nervous breakdown at work (it may also have weakened his heart, as rheumatic fever often does, and it could have been responsible for the gout).  He then went to the country for six months in an effort to recover.  Perhaps that is why he described himself as a jackeroo when he signed up.  It may also be the reason why he did not enlist when war first broke out in August 1914.  In Joel’s own words, he tired easily and felt ‘knocked out’ after his illness.  In Egypt, he often found himself unable to work because he was tired out.  When he contracted the ‘flu he did not recover from it.  He then suffered depression, bad sleep patterns and bodily aches and pains.

The decision of the board was that Joel had a pre-existing condition that had been aggravated by military service.  He was found to be anaemic, nervous and tremulous.  He had no appetite and little energy.  It judged that, temperamentally, Joel was not built for active service – for all his size and apparent fitness.  The interesting thing is that Joel obviously revealed nothing about his problems when he enlisted in Melbourne, and his heart and lungs were judged to be sound at that time.  It would appear that he was very keen to participate in any way he could.

The medical board recommended that Joel needed prolonged convalescence and, as a result, should be discharged as permanently unfit.  On 24 June, he sailed for Australia from Suez, arriving back in Melbourne on 17 July.  He was discharged from the AIF on 15 October. 

Joel certainly had psychological problems, but there was a clearly physical side to his illness as well.  The thought that the rheumatic fever had affected his heart may well be correct.  He died on 20 January 1917, aged only twenty-two.

He was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

Sources

Australian War Memorial – collection

National Archives of Australia

National Library of Australia

‘Rheumatic Fever’: US National Library of Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

www.thefreedictionary.com/neurasthenia