Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Aloysius Moylan was born on 22nd of August, 1894 in Adelaide, South Australia, to Margaret O'Shea, age 37, and John Patrick Moylan, age 49. Before he joined the war he was a coach driver which meant he drove people around with a horse and carriage, like a modern day taxi. He did not list any previous military service or training and he lived on 51 Charles Street, Norwood, South Australia with his mother, Maggie Moylan.

He enlisted on the 7th of February 1916 at the Adelaide enlistment depot and embarked with his battalion on the 25th of March 1916 on the HMAT A9 Shropshire. They proceeded to Egypt for training. Training in World War One was definitely not easy as the soldiers had to train 8 hours a day, six days a week and it didn’t help that the soldiers trained in one of the hottest countries in the world. Finally after Aloysius’ training was complete, on the 9th of August, he proceeded overseas to join his unit. Fourteen days later on the 23rd of August he arrived and joined his battalion only 16 days after his battalion fought at Pozières, France.

On the 5th of September, 1916 Aloysius was detached from the 10th battalion and attached to the Australian 1st division headquarters for traffic control duties. He finished his traffic duties on the 18th of September. On the 12th of January, 1917 he was transferred to Anzac light railway as a fettler.  During his time at the Anzac Light Railway, Aloysius worked on the supply railways fixing them if any problems occurred. Working around railways in World War 1 was a dangerous job because the Germans tried to bomb the railways so that the trains couldn’t bring supplies and troops to areas where they were needed. Six months later, on the 11th of June 1917, he was detached from Anzac Light Railway and re-joined his battalion.

The 10th battalion went on leave to the UK on the 23rd of January 1918. Whilst on leave Aloysius began feeling sick and was admitted to hospital on the 8th of February. One day later the Australian Dermatological Hospital found him to have contracted Venereal Disease whilst on leave from France. The disease lasted a total of 46 days, at the end of March he re-joined his battalion.

Then on the 9th of June Aloysius had to forfeit 4 days of his pay after he broke one of the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) rules and was out of camp area at about 10am and not present for morning roll call. This was only a minor crime and did not reflect badly on his battalion. Only about one month later on the 1st of July Aloysius was wounded in action. Between the 1st and the 5th of July, while fighting, the 10th battalion lost 4 men and had 6 wounded, one of them being Aloysius. He was admitted to the casualty clearing station with a shrapnel wound to his chest and abdomen. He spent 11 days in the station before being transferred to the auxiliary territorial service where on the 19th of July he was admitted to Whipps Cross Hospital.

Aloysius’ service record ends on the 27th of august 1918 when he is discharged from Whipps hospital. As Aloysius was wounded, he returned home to Australia on October 19, 1918 just before the rest of his battalion started leaving.

After the war ended Aloysius married Gladys Evelyn Stennett on 19th of August 1922 in Norwood, South Australia. They had three children during their marriage, two of his children did not want to be identified in the Moylan Family tree, but one of Aloysius’ sons, Walter John, was born on 26 March 1923 and died in 2009. Sadly Aloysius died on 27th of May 1969 in Norwood, South Australia, at the age of 74. He was buried in the South Australian Garden of Remembrance cemetery.