SWANSON, Donald
| Service Number: | 2210 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 7 July 1915, Enlisted at Liverpool. Railway records show him as enlisting on 2nd July 1915. |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | 5th Field Company Engineers |
| Born: | Byrock, New South Wales, Australia, 24 November 1889 |
| Home Town: | North Sydney, North Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | (Rural) Station Hand, Railway Signal Worker |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 31 December 1917, aged 28 years |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 7 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2210, 17th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Liverpool. Railway records show him as enlisting on 2nd July 1915. | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Sep 1915: | Involvement Private, 2210, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Argyllshire embarkation_ship_number: A8 public_note: '' | |
| 30 Sep 1915: | Embarked Private, 2210, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Argyllshire, Sydney | |
| 31 Dec 1917: | Involvement Sapper, 2210, 5th Field Company Engineers, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2210 awm_unit: 5th Field Company, Australian Engineers awm_rank: Sapper awm_died_date: 1917-12-31 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Donald SWANSON (Service Number 2210) was born on 24th November 1889 at Byrock (NSW). he worked with the NSW Railways in the Signalling Branch at Sydney from 23rd September 1914. He enlisted in the AIF, according to his railway records on 2nd July 1915, His military files show him joining on 7th July 1915 at Liverpool.
On his Attestation Papers he gives his ‘trade or calling’ as ‘Station Hand’. He was a country boy who came to the city and found whatever manual job he could with the Railways. He gave his widowed mother, Mary, living in Gordon as his next of kin. He was allotted to the 5th Field Company of Engineers. Swanson embarked HMAT ‘Argyllshire’ at Sydney on 30th September 1915. He spent the last months of 1915 and early 1916 in Egypt, including time in hospital with sciatica. In March he embarked per ‘Arcadian’ for passage to join the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in France and passed through Marseilles on 23rd March 1916.
In September he was Absent Without Leave and penalised with three days field Punishment No. 2. In January 1917 he was admitted to hospital at Rouen with venereal disease and this resulted in a total absence of 31 days.
In July he was again hospitalised in France with a recurrence of an old hip disease. He was subsequently evacuated to England on ‘Carrisbrooke Castle’ and to the Military Hospital at Richmond, Surrey. In November a growth in his bladder was detected and he was admitted to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital. The decision made that he be returned to Australia for discharge. He was carried on the Hospital Ship ‘Karoola’ which made a return voyage from Melbourne to England between 12 September 1917 and 10 January 1918. Swanson died from the tumour during the voyage from England to Melbourne on 31st. December 1917. He was probably buried at sea. He has no grave and is remembered on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in France.
A pension of £2 per fortnight was awarded to Mary Swanson from 5th March 1918.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.