Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Will Tynan was born at Tarago NSW. He was working at the department store Hayes and Russel in Quenbeyan when war broke out. He was the nephew of my grandmother Bridget (Tynan) Hourigan who lived with her family on the Cooma railway line.
My aunt spoke of Will riding his bike from Quenbeyan to Michaelago to tell the family of his decision to enlist. He did not tell his mother and father. He subsequently enlisted in Goulburn, did his training at the Liverpool camp and embarked with the 8th reinforcements.
He was drafted from the 1st ANZAC entenching Battalion as a reinforcement to join the 18th Battalion on the afternoon of the 4th of August 1916, in time for the attack on OG1 that evening.
He was in the company of 40 other reinforcements at approximately 1600 when just near battalion HQ. Two HE shells fell among the reinforcements.
The Battalion diary states two were killed and twenty three wounded.
Through extensive research I believe I have found 39 names of those reinforcements.
My research indicates two killed with a further six dying later of their wounds, and the names of 19 wounded.
Will Tynan has no nown grave and is believed to have been "blow to pieces".
I visited the site of 18 Bn. HQ just past "Sunken Rd. Cemetery" on the aniversary of Wills' death on the 4th of August 2016. The location is now a peacful farm field, although there is much of the "iron harvest', including a cricket ball grenade still present.