FINN, Dennis Patrick
| Service Number: | 3976 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 September 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 52nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia, 16 August 1898 |
| Home Town: | Enoggera, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Sep 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3976, 26th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 31 Jan 1916: | Involvement Private, 3976, 26th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Wandilla embarkation_ship_number: A62 public_note: '' | |
| 31 Jan 1916: | Embarked Private, 3976, 26th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Wandilla, Brisbane | |
| 2 Apr 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 52nd Infantry Battalion | |
| 4 Sep 1916: | Imprisoned Mouquet Farm | |
| 23 Nov 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 3976, 52nd Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Dennis Patrick Finn's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Dennis Patrick Finn was part of a group of thirteen men of the 52nd Battalion who were all recommended for a bravery award, for the following deed. On 4 September 1916, “Some wounded men, having been left out in front of the firing line near the Farm de Mouquet, a party under Lieutenant Ralph Anderson volunteered to go out from Albert, a distance of 8 kilometres, and try and bring them in. This they did, having to make their way for a very long distance over ground and through saps that were being shelled heavily by the enemy; with much trouble in the darkness, they located the men in No Mans Land, near the enemy trenches, and brought them back to safety over ground that was being swept by our own guns and over the ground being bombarded by the enemy.”
Only one of the thirteen men received an award. It must have been a particularly hazardous little enterprise for four of the thirteen were killed in action, one was wounded, and Finn was wounded in the thigh and captured by the Germans.
Finn was repatriated to England in December 1918, having spent well over two years in German POW camps. He returned to Australia during July 1919.
Dennis was the son of John and Sarah Finn of Brisbane, Queensland, his mother having passed away in 1902 when he was three years of age. He had two brothers, Robert and John Finn, who also served overseas in the AIF and returned to Australia in 1919.
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