MCILWAIN, Eric Hastings
| Service Number: | 3878 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 September 1915, Macksville, NSW |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 17th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Eungai Rail, New South Wales, Australia, 4 January 1898 |
| Home Town: | Eungai Creek, Nambucca Shire, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | 5 February 1962, aged 64 years, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Korovou Cemetery, Suva, Fiji |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Sep 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3878, 17th Infantry Battalion, Macksville, NSW | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Jan 1916: | Involvement Private, 3878, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Runic embarkation_ship_number: A54 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Jan 1916: | Embarked Private, 3878, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Runic, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Daryl Jones
Son of Robert Moon McIlwain, Eungai Creek, Macleay River, New South Wales
In 1915, at age 17, Eric joined the Australian Infantry Forces and became engaged in the First World War. He served in the trenches in the Somme area of France and furloughed in London. He received shrapnel wounds to his left knee and was phosphine or chlorine gassed in the trenches when the Germans resorted to that type of warfare just before the war ended.
After war’s end, and on repatriation in 1919, Eric received agricultural management training at Hawkesbury Agricultural College outside Sydney, where he achieved a diploma. He was full of adventure and applied for a job in Fiji with a big saw milling company in Suva, called Whans. His application was successful and in 1921 he sailed to Fiji, probably on the “Niagara” or “Aorangi”, which were the passenger ships on the route at that time.
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