In remembrance and commemoration of the service and sacrifice of those who have served in armed conflicts and peacekeeping operations, we are sharing the story of a brave young man from Narrabeen who became an ANZAC - Jack Tarrant.
Jack enlisted on 15 March 1915 and on 26 June that year, he boarded the HMAS Berrima bound for Egypt where he underwent training.
Arriving in Gallipoli on 22 August 1915, Jack served as a bomber. The bombs were made from old jam or milk tins with a circle cut out of the top. This was so the tins could be filled with whatever was available, such as stones and bits of metal. The bombs gradually became more sophisticated and by the end of Jack’s four month service in Gallipoli, they were using Mills bombs. These bombs had pins and would shatter on impact.
Jack and his fellow soldiers were among the last group to be evacuated from Gallipoli on 20 December 1915. He served in France until the end of the war and spent over two years in the mud and horrors of the battlefield, being wounded many times. For his bravery, Jack was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for Gallantry.
As a veteran, Jack's efforts throughout the war continued to be recognised. An article from the Australian Women’s Weekly on 10 September 1980 titled “How do you play a legend?”, features Jack and other members of Sydney’s Gallipoli Club. The article captures the veterans' advice they gave to two actors who were to star in the upcoming movie 'Gallipoli' - Mark Lee and Mel Gibson.
When Mark Lee was offered the role, his first reaction was "How the hell do you portray guys like those?" . Both actors spoke to the veterans for nearly an hour with Jack giving his approval, "They’ll do, definitely ANZAC material."
Jack was also the President of the Gallipoli Legion and in April 1985, he and fellow Gallipoli veteran Charles Bingham, travelled to Turkey on the 70th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing to take part in the ceremonial renaming of Gallipoli to ANZAC Cove.
This renaming was suggested to the Australian Government by Jack and Charles with the the Turkish Government being in agreement, as Jack stated:
“Turkish people today think we are wonderful and so we think they’re wonderful, they are changing a name to suit us and we are changing a name in Canberra to suit them. Both the Australian and Turkish soldiers came into the war at the request of their allies – the animosity was not between Australia and Turkey.” (Courtesy of ANZAC – something to be proud of by Nan Bosler.)
In his later years, Jack lived in the War Veterans Home at Narrabeen and passed away on the 19th July 1990, aged 96.