CFA honours firefighter turned soldier

WONTHAGGI CFA has received replica wartime medals commemorating a former firefighter killed in World War One.

Relatives of Corporal John Sparks presented the Wonthaggi brigade with replica wartime medals on Sunday.

A photo of Corporal Sparks hangs on the wall of the Wonthaggi fire station, more than 100 years after he was killed in France.

Brigade captain Kim O’Connor said, “Our purpose is to honour our former fireman John Sparks and today is the first step of a long journey that will be completed when we pay our respects with a fireman’s gravestone service in France.”

Corporal John Sparks was killed in action 13 days after he was promoted to corporal.
His relative Michael Wardle said the family was honoured by the Wonthaggi CFA’s recognition of Corporal Sparks’ memory.

“As a family we really appreciate the amount of effort that is going into this,” Mr Wardle said.
Other than basic details about where he was from and when he enlisted, the full story about Corporal Sparks remained a mystery – until recently.
After further research, Mr O’Connor found Corporal Sparks was employed as a wheeler at the State Coal Mine in Wonthaggi.
He enlisted in the armed forces on August 18, 1914 and departed Melbourne on HMAT A24 Benalla as part of the 8th Battalion.
Corporal Sparks was killed in France on August 5, 1916.

Family: Wonthaggi CFA was presented medals by a large number of John Sparks relatives in memory of John.

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Mar 28 2017. Filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry