James was born in London, England to Keppel Arthur Turnour⁽¹⁾ and Margaret Ann Wallace. James had three brothers, Arthur, John and Keppel, who are also remembered in the Avenue - another brother, Donald, also enlisted⁽²⁾ in the AIF.

click to enlarge
Courtesy of Louise Ryan

James was a dairy farmer at Cohuna, VIC- formerly from Bacchus Marsh⁽³⁾ - when he enlisted at Bendigo in the AIF on the 3^rd of January 1916, aged 32½. He was first allocated to the Light Horse, then the 46^th Battalion and finally to the 13^th Reinforcements, 24^th Battalion. He embarked aboard the HMAT A32 Themistocles in late July and disembarked at Plymouth, England in September.

James joined his unit in France in late December 1916. During the fighting at Bapaume, James was wounded in action - Blown up buried. Shell concussion - and admitted to hospital for 10 days suffering from shell shock. On the 4^th of May James was again wounded during the Second Battle of Bullecourt. After being admitted to the 7^th Canadian General Hospital, Etaples, France he was evacuated back to England and admitted to the Horton (county of London) War Hospital, Epsom - bullet or shell wounds to the chest and leg, severe. In September he was transferred to the 2^nd Auxiliary Hospital, Southall before he embarked for home aboard the Karoola in late November - amputated right leg above the knee - returning to Australia in January 1918 and was discharged from the AIF in February.

James died at Cohuna, VIC in 1967, aged 84.

He is listed on the Bacchus Marsh & District Roll of Honour and the Morrisons Tableland & District State School Honor Roll. All five brothers' as well as their father - who was a Recruiting Sergeant⁽¹⁾ - are also listed.

Notes

1. Ryan L. 2009
   TURNOUR FAMILY OF COHUNA Their experience of World War One
   Available at Cohuna and Kerang libraries 940.548194 TURN
2. The article from the The Bacchus Marsh Express 18 Aug 1918 shows this tree dedicated to D Turnour. However he was discharged, medically unfit, after two days service. Either there was a mistake in the article or someone changed their mind about to whom the tree should be dedicated.
3. The Bacchus Marsh Express 15 Jan 1916