Though his military personnel file contains no record of a middle name, the photograph in the Otago Witness of 21 July 1915 is of this John Matheson, as no other New Zealand soldiers of that name and from Dunedin were wounded at that time. The death record in his personnel file also corresponds with the death notice for John Alexander Matheson.
When he joined up in 1914 John was working as a labourer in Kurow, Otago. His next of kin was his father, also John, who lived at Waitaki though his address by 1917 was given as Market Street in Dunedin.
John spent 4 ½ years overseas, firstly at Gallipoli and Egypt in 1915 and then for three more years on the Western Front. He was shot in the leg at Gallipoli in June 1915 and treated on a hospital ship before being admitted three days later to the Egyptian Army Hospital in Cairo.
Though he was wounded only the once, he was in hospital several times for various illnesses. On returning to New Zealand in 1919 he was discharged as unfit for duty on account of varicose veins, and died at Dunedin in 1927 from secondary anaemia, bronchopneumonia and heart failure aged only 37.
