Service number 4208
Service number 4208ORIGINAL NAME PLATE C.1929
On the 10th May 1918 James was awarded a Military Medal.
Action for which Commended
“At 3.15pm on 24th April 1916 Dvr Witham was lead driver of a team comprising portion of a convoy carting ammunition to the 55th Pty, A.F.A. When passing along a sunken road nearing the Bonnay Cross Roads, the convoy came under very heavy shell fire, killing two complete teams and wounding all the drivers. Dvr Witham although himself wounded immediately picked himself up and went to the assistance of the other drivers. Although the shell fire was particularly heavy and concentrated on this one point, this Dvr with utter disregard of personal danger, extricated from amongst the dying mules, one of the other drivers who was badly wounded, and still under heavy shell fire carried him 200 yards to a sap where his wounds could be dressed. His coolness under fire and his disregard for personal danger, although wounded set a very high example of courage and devotion to duty.”
Returned to Australia on the 22ndMay 1919. Discharged on the 12thSeptember 1919.
James returned to live in Beaconsfield, his occupation Shop Assistant. He married Hilda Florence Hodgson.
Died in February 1959.
Cremated on the 16thFebruary 1959 at Springvale Botanical Cemetery.
| Name | WITHAM, James Albert |
| Service Number | 4208 |
| Rank | Private |
| Roll | 23 Infantry Battalion 9-12 Reinforcements (February-April 1916) |
| Conflict | First World War 1914-1918 |
| Embarked | 7thMarch 1916 |
| City | Melbourne |
| Ship | HMAT Wiltshire A18 |
| Age | 23 years |
| Birth Place | 1893, Omeo, Victoria |
| Father | John Witham, Tongio West, East Gippsland, Victoria |
| Mother | Mary Ellen (Richmond) Witham |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Storeman |
| Residence | Seymour, Victoria |
| Enlisted | 26th February 1915 |
| Height | 5 feet, 10 ½ inches |
| Complexion | Fair; Eyes- Brown; Hair- Brown |
