O'LEARY, Daniel Cornelius
| Service Number: | 1154 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 11 November 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 13th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Taranaki, New Plymouth,New Zealand., 8 June 1887 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Carriage Trimmer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 10 July 1917, aged 30 years |
| Cemetery: |
Strand Military Cemetery, Ploegsteert, Wallonie, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Mount Barker Soldiers' Memorial Hospital Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 11 Nov 1914: | Enlisted Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Forces (New Guinea 1914), 1154 | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Dec 1914: | Involvement Driver, 1154, 13th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
| 22 Dec 1914: | Embarked Driver, 1154, 13th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne | |
| 10 Jul 1917: | Involvement Sergeant, 1154, 13th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1154 awm_unit: 13 Battalion awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1917-07-10 |
Help us honour Daniel Cornelius O'Leary's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Caitlin Doyle
Son of Catherine Agnes and Florence O'Leary.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Daniel Cornelius O'LEARY (Service Number 1154) was born on 8th June 1887 at Invercargyll, New Zealand. He first worked for the NSW Railways in the Locomotive Branch at Eveleigh Workshops as a casual carriage trimmer from 14th May 1912. The next October he relocated to Lismore, but by April 1914 was back at Eveleigh.
It was from this position that he was released on 9th November 1914 to join the Expeditionary Forces. There are Attestation Papers signed at Liverpool NSW on 11th November and at Broadmeadows, Victoria on 8th December, so it is not clear where or when he enlisted. He claimed to have been apprenticed in the Railway Workshops for three years, have served with the Naval Volunteers and gave his father living in Wellington, New Zealand, as his next of kin.
He was allotted to the 13th Australian Infantry Battalion. O’Leary embarked HMAT ‘Ulysses’ at Melbourne on 22nd December 1914. He reached Egypt in the new year and proceeded to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Forces at Gallipoli, embarking at Alexandria on 12th April 1915.
By October he was back in Alexandria attached to the Transport Section. He then served as a Driver in Maadi, Cairo and Ismailia.
On 1st June 1916 he embarked at Alexandria for passage to France through Marseilles to join the British Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front. Soon after arriving there he was promoted to Lance Corporal and by September was promoted to Transport Sergeant. In February he was admitted to hospital at Rouen with pleurisy and did not re-join the unit until March.
He was killed in action in Belgium on 10th July 1917. No details survive as to the location or circumstances of his death.
He was at first buried in a makeshift grave near Messines, but after the war his remains were exhumed and re-interred in the Strand Military Cemetery, Ploegsteert, Belgium.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.