PURCELL, Patrick Gordon
| Service Number: | 885 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 February 1915, Medical conducted at Broadmeadows |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 23rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Apsley, Victoria, Australia, 1895 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Storeman |
| Died: | Geelong, Victoria, Australia, 1 June 1977, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Barrabool Hills Cemetery, Victoria |
| Memorials: | Geelong City Band Honor Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Feb 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 885, 23rd Infantry Battalion, Medical conducted at Broadmeadows | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 May 1915: | Involvement Private, 885, 23rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
| 10 May 1915: | Embarked Private, 885, 23rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Melbourne | |
| 16 Jun 1916: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 885, 23rd Infantry Battalion, Bomb wound right wrist, right nose, chest and eye. | |
| 21 Jun 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 23rd Infantry Battalion, Transferred to Alexandra Hospital "Wounded- Severe" | |
| 20 Oct 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, 23rd Infantry Battalion, Transferred to Weymouth England, No 2. Com. Depot, until July 8, 1919, returning to Australia and disembarking on September 1, 1919. . | |
| 9 Dec 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Sergeant, 885, 23rd Infantry Battalion, Medical Discharge - unfit, loss of right eye. |
Help us honour Patrick Gordon Purcell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Larina Harper
Letters sent from Pvt Purcell to home and published in the paper:
BANDSMAN P. G. PURCELL Writing from Gallipoli, under date Sep-tember 16th, 1915, says:— "Just a short scribble from this part of the globe (or part of Hell) letting you know I am still in the land of the living. By the time you get this, I suppose there will be great changes in our lives. I am writing this as I am on duty in the trenches, guns and rifle fire going everywhere, and to make it worse it is raining and cold. But never mind, there's a good time waiting for us somewhere; it can't always be against us. Just come out at 10 o'clock from doing 48 hours duty, and it's a dash sight worse out than in, as the artil-lery have been having a go for the last three hours, and as I am camped just near one our big guns, it feels pretty uncomfortable, as the noise is deafen-ing, and the shrapnel is flying all round me. It's time they had sense and let a chap get a bit of sleep. I think I will sue them for kicking up a row and fighting. Of course you know my job over here is regimental stret-cher bears, so you can guess what I have to do. We are right in the fiing line practically, and of course if we are wanted all the shells in the world won't stop us. I think it is one of the nastiest jobs in the whole game, and certainly it's one of the most dan-gerous. I have put a good few rounds into Johnny Turk at times, too. I hope with some effect: as it is all trench fighting one cannot see if he does any good or not. My photo in "News of the Week'" looks well. I am feeling a little better now than a week ago, but you can't imagine what it's like over here. Keep on writing, as no one but our-selves know what it is like to get a letter in this miserable part of the world. BANDSMAN P. G. PURCELL (1915, December 18). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1929), p. 8. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119726725
Click images to start slideshow.