Home Guard Medical Unit
Born: 24th August 1874.
Story
John was the son of Walter and Hannah Mackenzie, from Austhorpe. He was baptised on 19th January 1875 in Whitkirk. He married Martha Cheesbrough in 1897, and the couple lived at Hopewell Terrace, Kippax, with their three sons, Joseph, Albert and Thomas, before moving to Bramley Terrace just before the War. John pioneered ambulance work in Kippax, and received his first ambulance certificate in 1900. He trained his three sons in ambulance work, and his youngest son Thomas served abroad in World War Two. Known as “Mac”, John took up ambulance work through witnessing the slow and crude methods of handling injured miners that operated when he was a youth, including seeing a dead miner sent home on top of a load of firecoal, and he had known it take ten hours to get a badly injured man from the coal face to Leeds General Infirmary.
John left coal mining when he enlisted on the 7th August 1914 just before his fortieth birthday. He was promoted to Warrant Officer Class II, which was a new rank introduced by Army Order 70 of 1915, ranked below the Company Sergeant Major or Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant. John saw service in Iraq, India and Egypt. He was discharged on 25th July 1918 after falling sick.
When Kippax and Garforth were separated for ambulance purposes in 1919, John became divisional officer at Kippax, and then Superintendent of his brigade. In 1930 and 1937, John was called to London to receive St. John decorations. He was made a Serving Brother of the Order of St. John by the Earl of Strathmore, and an Officer Brother of the Order by King George VI. In 1927, he received training at military hospitals, and at the outbreak of World War Two, he was again put in the service of King and Country. John and Frank Parkinson were the attendants of the Miner’s Welfare Ambulance. They served a wide area, with Kippax being their hub, and it was said they both slept with their boots on and with one eye open. John claimed that he and his colleagues had never refused a call. John and Martha lived at 2 Robinwell Terrace, Kippax and during the Second World War, Martha also served as an ARP Warden. John lost his job as a coal miner but said that jobs may come and go, but he was determined to stick to ambulance work as long as possible. During the Second World War, John was in charge of a class of Post Office and Labour Exchange workers, and taught first-aid to a large class of school children, including his grandson, born in 1934, who was named John William Mackenzie after him.
John was buried in Kippax on 13th December 1952 aged 78.
Kippax Roll of Honour 