GILZEAN, John Findlater
| Service Number: | 1954 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 9 January 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 9th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, 18 May 1891 |
| Home Town: | Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | 1956, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Jan 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1954, 9th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Apr 1915: | Involvement Private, 1954, 9th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Kyarra embarkation_ship_number: A55 public_note: '' | |
| 16 Apr 1915: | Embarked Private, 1954, 9th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Kyarra, Brisbane |
Help us honour John Findlater Gilzean's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
John Findlater Gilzean 9th Battalion AIF, enlisted in early 1915 and served on Gallipoli from June 1915. He was evacuated with dysentry soon after and sent to England to recover. He was wounded again in France during August 1916. In the meantime, both his two brothers had lost their lives at Pozieres during July 1916. John’s father wrote to Base Records and requested his return to Australia on the grounds that he was very old, he had lost two sons, and had no one to care for a younger two siblings. “I can only wish to have my sole surviving son beside me.”
After the request was passed on and went through the chain of command, John was ordered to return to Australia left England on 4 May 1917.
He managed to obtain a free passage to Australia for his fiancée in 1919, from Scotland to Australia. John married Nora Bissett in Sydney during 1919, raised two children and passed away in 1956.