KIRWAN, Michael Alphonsus
| Service Number: | 522 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 August 1914, Enlisted at Randwick. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia, 4 March 1891 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Night Officer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 8 August 1918, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
Fouilloy Communal Cemetery, Somme |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 28 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 522, 2nd Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Randwick. | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 522, 2nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Suffolk embarkation_ship_number: A23 public_note: '' | |
| 18 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 522, 2nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Suffolk, Sydney | |
| 7 Jul 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 522, 2nd Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, Shrapnel wound to left thigh. Went to Alexandria via Field Ambulance, Mudros on the Greek island of Lemnos, and Malta. |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Michael Alphonsus KIRWAN (Service Number 522) was born on 4th March 1891 at Ashfield. He began working as a probationer in the Traffic Branch in the Orange District on 3rd September 1907. The next year he progressed to become a junior porter. In August 1910, he was dismissed. He appealed to the Appeals’ Board but was noit re-employed at that time.
On 19th January 1912 he was re-employed, ‘subject to producing satisfactory references & to passing Staff Committee’ Within two months his role was stated as ‘Clerk & Operator [telegraph]’ at Dungog. In February 1913 he was at Taree, and in September became night officer on the Newcastle Relief. In 1914 he was appointed in the night officer role to the specific station of Stroud Road. It was from here that he was granted leave on 27th August to join the Expeditionary Forces.
He enlisted at Randwick the next day, giving his ‘calling‘ as a ‘Railway Night Officer’. He nominated his sister of William Street, Sydney as his next of kin. He left Australia from Sydney aboard HMAT ‘Suffolk’ on 18th October 1914. He had been allotted to the 2nd Battalion. He reached Alexandria on 8th December. In January he was transferred to Headquarters Signallers.
He received a shrapnel wound to his left thigh at Gallipoli on 7 July 1915. He assed through the Field Ambulance and to Mudros (on the Greek island of Lemnos). His condition was then complicated by dysentery. He moved to Malta and then Alexandria. He did recover and returned to Gallipoli at the end of October. He was transferred to Alexandria in December with the general evacuation.
He was admonished for drunkenness and punished with 14 days close confinement. In February he spent three weeks On Command at Zeitoun as Telephonist. In March was promoted to Lance Corporal at Serapeum (Egypt). Immediately he suffered from medical problems again and was sent to the Field Ambulance, the Casualty Clearing Station, the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital and the 4th Hospital Train. This time however the condition was self-inflicted – he had VD. This disease took 74 days to cure and he was not discharged in Cairo until 15th May 1916.
In September he was taken on the strength of 3rd Echelon Australian Records Section. He embarked at Alexandria, passed through Marseilles and reached Rouen (France) on 30th September, where he was formally transferred from the Egyptian Expeditionary Force to the British Expeditionary Force. He served for the rest of 1916 and until August 1917 in Records and the Base Depot. In September he had furlough in England. He was hospitalised again during his leave with VD. This time it took 41 days to clear. In October 1917 he joined the Overseas Training Battalion at Deveril (England). By May 1918 he was finally back with his original unit – the 2nd Battalion.
He was accidentally injured by a shrapnel wound which shattered his left leg and right arm. He died of the wounds the same day at the 13th Australian Field Ambulance, and was buried at Fouilloy Cemetery, France.
Kirwan was survived by two sisters. His parents were dead, and a brother had died on active service in 1916. By the time, several years after the war, when the Memorial Plaque became available neither could be located, and its issue is marked ‘untraceable’.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.