Percy John CAVANAGH

Badge Number: MS1019, Sub Branch: Balaklava
MS1019

CAVANAGH, Percy John

Service Number: 1019
Enlisted: 31 August 1914
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 10th Infantry Battalion
Born: Watchman, South Australia , 15 May 1890
Home Town: Balaklava, Wakefield, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Farmer
Died: Illness, Balaklava Memorial Hospital. South Australia, 1 April 1936, aged 45 years
Cemetery: Balaklava Public Cemetery, S.A.
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World War 1 Service

31 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1019, 10th Infantry Battalion
20 Oct 1914: Involvement Private, 1019, 10th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: ''
20 Oct 1914: Embarked Private, 1019, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Adelaide

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Biography contributed by Adelaide Botanic High School

Percy John Cavanagh was born in Watchman, South Australia on the 15th of May 1890. He lived in the Town of Balaklava with his father, Patrick Cavanagh, his mother, Ellen Collins and 11 siblings. He was a farmer by occupation, and, as stated in his description upon enlistment, had a fair complexion, grey eyes, and dark hair.

Cavanagh had no previous military experience, and he made the decision to enlist in the A.I.F. Private on the 31st of August 1914 at the age of 24 years and 3 months in Morphettville, Adelaide. He embarked from Adelaide on the 20th of October 1914 on board the HMAT Ascanius A11, arriving in Outer Harbor later that day.

His service number was 1019 and was appointed to the 10th Infantry Battalion (infantry involved the soldiers engaging in ground combat by foot), and he spent his whole military career in this Battalion.

After arriving at Outer Harbor on the 20th of October 1914, he spent five days there before arriving in Fremantle (Western Australia) and staying there for just under three weeks. On the 10th of November 1914 he started to travel across the Indian Ocean. He arrived at Alexandria in Egypt by the 6th of December 1914 where he would spend the next couple of months training. The next destination was MENA (Middle East and North Africa), where he arrived on the 23rd of March 1915 and stayed there for a short while before departing for Gallipoli.

Percy fought in the Battle of Gallipoli or also known as the Dardanelles Campaign from the 25th of April 1915, until being wounded and admitted to hospital on the 16th of June 1915. He was admitted twice at Cairo with a GSW (gunshot wound) to the shoulder. Eventually Cavanagh was sent back on the ship Euripides to Australia on the 22nd of August 1915, where he was discharged under two months later.

Percy Cavanagh accepted a position as a motor mechanic and he married Florence. A. Woods and had no children.

Percy John Cavanagh died of an unknown illness at 45 years of age on the 1st of April 1936 and is buried at Balaklava Public Cemetery with his mother, father, and siblings.

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