Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Lloyd Leonard Mahoney was an Australian soldier who fought in the 10th Infantry Battalion with the AIF. Lloyd was born in Fulham, South Australia and continued to live in his hometown.[1] His parents were Alma Ann Louise and Michael Mahoney, Lloyd also had an older brother Joseph. During his childhood, Lloyd lived a normal and happy life attending Fulham Primary School alongside his brother. Lloyd had an Irish background (from his father Michael) who also had a single marital status and lived a happy and ordinary life working as a dairyman.

Lloyd had developed previous military experience while serving as a Private in the 78th Senior Cadets in South Australia. This experience helped Lloyd to further take part in the First World War. Lloyd was still living with his parents prior to enlisting and 3 months later, Lloyd decided to enlist. His parents were in distress as both Lloyd and Joseph gave up their regular lives to serve for their country.

On 10 June 1915, Lloyd enlisted in the First World War. This was approximately a year after the war began. His rank of enlistment was private and was entered into the Nominal Roll on 2 June 1915. Lloyd embarked from Adelaide, South Australia on HMAT Anchises A68 together with his brother on 2 September 1915. The embarkation ship set for France where the First World War took action. Lloyd fought in the 10th Infantry Battalion and also served in the 8th Reinforcement. 

Throughout World War 1, many soldiers experienced terrible scenes as millions of them died in battle. Lloyd fought in World War 1 for only one year and listed as killed in action. His body was found at the 34th Casualty Clearing Station in France. He died on 28 July 1916 and was 18 years old. Coroner reports show that the wounds were on both legs, elbows and back. Lloyd died in France and to commemorate his role of service for his country, he was listed on the 59th Australian Memorial Roll of Honour. Lloyd’s grave spot is located at Daours Communal Cemetery Extension (Plot 1, Row C, Grave N.O 30) France. (See documents)  

[1] UNSW Australia n.d., Lloyd Leonard MAHONEY, Australian Defence Force Academy, accessed 20 June 2017, <https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=185313>

2 Lloyd Leonard Mahoney n.d., Illustration, RSL Australia, accessed 20 June 2017, <https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/explore/people/183419>

3 NAA: B2455, MAHONEY LLOYD LEONARD Page 2 of 54 n.d., Documentation Letter, National Archives of Australia, accessed 20 June 2017, <https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=8213017&S=30&N=54&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=8213017&T=P&S=2>

4 NAA: B2455, MAHONEY LLOYD LEONARD Page 8 of 54 n.d., Documentation, National Archives of Australia, accessed 20 June 2017, <https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=8213017&S=30&N=54&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=8213017&T=P&S=8>

From François Berthout, Australia and NZ in WWI

Today, it is with deep gratitude that I wish to honor the memory of one of my boys of the Somme who gave his life for our tomorrow, I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 2704 Lloyd Leonard Mahoney who fought in the 10th Australian Infantry Battalion and who died of his wounds 104 years ago, on July 28, 1916 at the age of 18 on the Somme front.

Lloyd Leonard Mahoney was born on August 23, 1897 in Fulham, South Australia, he had an Irish father, Michael Mahoney and an Australian mother, Alma Ann Louise Mahoney and had a brother, Joseph David Mahoney. He was educated at Fulham Public School and showed marked ability and before the war he lived with his parents at Henley Beach,Fulham, City of West Torrens, South Australia and worked as a dairyman.

Lloyd had developed previous military experience while serving as a Private in the 78th Senior Cadets in South Australia at the age of 14. This experience helped Lloyd to further take part in the first world war.

Enlisted on June 10, 1915 at Keswick, South Australia, in the 10th Australian Infantry Battalion, 8th Reinforcement, he embarked with his brother and with his unit from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A68 Anchises on September 2, 1915 and sailed for Gallipoli.

Lloyd was a member of the 3rd Brigade that experienced the pain of being the first wave of soldiers to enter the shores of Anzac Cove, Gallipoli. That being said, Lloyd’s experience in Gallipoli was shortened because of his late arrival, poor health and conditions in the battlefield, resulting in a transfer to the rest camp 100km away at West Mudros, Lemnos,Greece. He suffered common war illnesses: tonsillitis, diphtheria and scarlet fever. After the evacuation of Gallipoli, which began a day before his release from the camp, Lloyd and the remaining portion of his battalion moved on to the Western Front, via Egypt.

Lloyd was disembarked in Marseilles, France on April 3, 1916 and was sent with his unit to the Somme front to face the Battle of Pozieres which was the first and most terrible major engagement of Australian troops in the Somme.Many ANZACs reported that the better known battle at Gallipoli was ultimately less horrific than the Western Front and Pozieres.

unfortunately, it is here, in Pozieres, that Lloyd was wounded to his legs, back, elbow and arms on July 25, 1916 and was evacuated to the 34th Casualty Clearing Station in Daours where he died of his wounds three days later, the July 28, 1916 at the age of 18.
Today Lloyd Leonard Mahoney rests in peace alongside his comrades and brothers in arms in the Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "Rest after strife".

Unfortunately, Lloyd's brother, Sergeant Joseph David Mahoney who also fought in the 10th Australian Infantry Battalion was killed in action on April 8, 1917 at the age of 21 near Villers-Bretonneux and has no known grave.He is remembered at the Villers-Bretonneux memorial.

After the war,Mr and Mrs Mahoney continued their life in a house that was christened with the combination of their courageous sons’ names, Joseph David and Lloyd Leonard: Josephlen.

Lloyd, today it is with deep respect that I want to thank and honor the man you were, Enlisted when you were just a child, a young man who had a hopeful future ahead of him , a life to live with your family, you decided to serve your country, wearing the uniform and carrying high in your heart the colors and the hopes of your country, it is under the flag that you left, turning your heart and your gaze one last time to your parents.Sailing with your brother on the ocean transporting you to an uncertain future and to the shadows and darkness of war that stole your youth and your childhood through the trenches and the battlefields of Gallipoli and the Somme, you fought with the greatest courage through this hell which mowed down, under bullets and shells, the lives of so many of your friends who fell around you, in the mud and in the barbed wire,through a rain of blood and bullets and scorching metal, slipping through shell holes, no man, no child should ever experience this and yet this is what you saw with your eyes, facing fear and death.it is with a valiant heart and noble ideas that you fell, for the peace of the world, however, I think of the pain and the sadness that your father and your mother lived by learning of your death then that of your brother , no parents should go through this but today my heart warms thinking that you are all reunited, my thoughts are for you, Lloyd who gave your today for our tomorrow and who gave your life for millions of people may live today.we will never forget you and we will not forget what you and your brother have done and sacrificed for us, your youth and your life, your memory will forever remain in our hearts so that your name lives on forever.At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember him, we will remember them, now and forever. God bless your soul Lloyd.🌺

Brother of 2649 Sgt. Joseph David Mahoney (/explore/people/326185) who was killed in action in France on 06 Apr 1917

"THE LATE PRIVATE L. L. MAHONEY.

Mr. M. Mahoney, of Fulham, has just received the sad news through the military authorities that his son, Private Lloyd Leonard Mahoney, who left Adelaide with the 8th Reinforcements of the 10th Battalion, A.I.F., was severely wounded in action in France, and died on July 28. Private Mahoney was born at the Reedbeds, and would have completed his 19th year on August 23. He was educated at the Fulham Public School, and showed marked ability. He went to the front with his brother, Corporal J. Mahoney, who is still fighting in France." - from the Adelaide Chronicle 19 Aug 1916 (nla.gov.au)

Biography written by Kelly Parkin Golden Grove High School, SA attached as a document. Winning entry for 2018 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize.