IRWIN, Victor Thomas
| Service Number: | 3007 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 September 1916, Enlisted at Goulburn. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 60th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Temora, New South Wales, Australia, 24 May 1890 |
| Home Town: | Temora, Temora Municipality, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Locomotive Fireman |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 12 May 1917, aged 26 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Goulburn District Railway Employees Great War Honour Roll, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Temora Public School Honour Roll, Temora WW1 War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 5 Sep 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3007, 60th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Goulburn. | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Nov 1916: | Involvement Private, 3007, 60th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '20' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: '' | |
| 3 Nov 1916: | Embarked Private, 3007, 60th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Afric, Sydney |
Help us honour Victor Thomas Irwin's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Victor Thomas IRWIN (Service Number 3007) was born on 24th May 1890 at Temora, NSW. He commenced casual work for the NSW Government Railways as a cleaner at Harden Locomotive Depot on 15th August 1913. he became a permanent employee at the end of September. At the beginning of 1914 he had progressed to fireman at Picton. As a locomotive fireman, he returned to Harden and then moved to Goulburn.
He enlisted in Goulburn on 5th September 1916. He was allotted to the 7th Reinforcement of the 60th Australian Infantry Battalion. Being unmarried he gave his brother as his next of kin.
Irwin left Australia from Sydney aboard HMAT ‘Afric’ on 3rd November 1916 and reached Plymouth (England) on 10th January 1917. After a period with the 15th Training Battalion he proceeded overseas to France and was taken on the strength of the 60th Battalion on 24th March.
He was reported as missing in action seven weeks later. It was not until a Court of Enquiry was held ten months later in March 1918 that it was decided that Irwin was dead.
Private J. Ladd wrote in a letter:
‘A chap from Goulburn, named Vic Irwin, was with me at [Bullecourt], and we both dodged for a shell-hole, when a big shell came over. Well, I could not find him after it lobbed, so he must have run right into it and must have been killed immediately, so of course, the Red Cross was chasing me up to see what I knew, and I told the all I knew, but unless you can produce their pay-book or Identification Disc they are marked “Missing”.’
Irwin has no known grave and is remembered at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
Although Irwin’s next of kin was his younger brother, his eldest brother claimed his medals and other mementoes, as was the protocol.
- based on the Australian War memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.