John Ross left New Zealand in October, 1917. He returned home a broken man.
His army record shows him suffering from: "Breathlessness, tremors, dyspnoea, very marked limitation movement left ??? breath sounds diminished." It was regarded as a permanent disability. Lung fibrosis was regarded as being the result of an attack of pleurisy before enlistment. Shell shock and a facial gunshot wound were the result of the events of December 3, 1917.
Essential facts in the history of the disability: 9/12/17 admitted U G Hosp. gsw face + shell shock - blown up by shell - fairly definite history of concussion - headache since buried - funct. tremors
Present condition of the patient: is very nervous and has general and marked muscular tremor - has dyspnoea - is round shouldered...
John Ross was in the 10th Company of the Otago Regiment's 1st Battalion. A look at the Regiment's Official History shows that on the day John was "blown up by shell" his company was involved in the attack on Poelderhoek Chateau. He was likely wounded in the following incident: "The fixed starting line of the artillery barrage for the operation was 150 yards in advance of that on which the foremost infantry were assembled. By some fatal miscalculation or influence a considerable part of the entire weight of the barrage fell across the area occupied by the first waves of the assaulting troops. The immediate outcome was that the two leading Companies, 4th on the left and 10th on the right, became seriously involved in the destructive fire of our own artillery. The losses incurred were at once severe. To move forward was accepted as the quickest method of escaping our own fire, because more appeared to be falling to the rear than to the front."
John Ross' life was destroyed by "friendly fire."
DEATH.
ROSS. — At “Springfield,” Dipton, on June 30, 1920, John Robert Ross (late of the 27th Reinforcements; aged 25 years. For King and Country. The funeral will leave his residence on Saturday, July 3, at 1 p.m., for the Dipton Cemetery. Friends please accept this (the only) intimation. Military funeral. -Southland Times, 2/7/1920.
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