Soldier Boy

‘Dear Mother and Father…Don’t worry about me…I am doing splendid over here…’

On 28 June 1915, young James Martin sailed from Melbourne on the troopship Berrima – bound, ultimately, for Gallipoli. He was just fourteen years old.

Soldier Boy is Jim’s extraordinary story, the story of how an inexperienced and enthusiastic school boy became Australia’s youngest known Anzac.

Four months after leaving his home country he would be numbered among the dead, just one of so many soldier boys who travelled halfway around the world for a chance of adventure.

This is, however, just as much the story of Jim’s mother, Amelia Martin. It is the heartbreaking tale of a mother who had to let him go, of his family who lost a son, a brother, an uncle, a friend.

It is about Amelia’s boy who, like so many others, just wanted to be in on the action.

‘James Martin’s life is a not insignificant part of our Australian story, movingly recounted by Anthony Hill in this truly memorable book.’