MCGRATH, Vivian
| Service Number: | 3914 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 September 1915, Enlisted at Lithgow, NSW. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 18th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia, 16 February 1897 |
| Home Town: | Mudgee, Mid-Western Regional, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Porter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 2 August 1916, aged 19 years |
| Cemetery: |
London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Gulgong and Mudgee District Roll of Honor, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Mudgee District Fallen Soldiers Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 4 Sep 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3914, 18th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Lithgow, NSW. | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Jan 1916: | Involvement Private, 3914, 18th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Runic embarkation_ship_number: A54 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Jan 1916: | Embarked Private, 3914, 18th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Runic, Sydney |
Help us honour Vivian McGrath's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Vivian MCGRATH (Service Number 3914) was born on 16th February 1897 at Mudgee. He worked for the NSW Government Railways as a junior porter in the Eskbank District (Lithgow) where he commenced on 10th November 1913. He was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces on 23rd August 1915 and enlisted at Lithgow on 4th September. He was unmarried and gave his father living in Mudgee as his next of kin.
He was allotted to the 9th Reinforcements to the 18th Battalion. He embarked HMAT ‘Runic’ at Sydney on 20th January 1916, reaching Alexandria (Egypt) on 26th February. After brief further training, he proceeded to join the British Expeditionary Force in France through Alexandria and Marseilles, which he reached on 3rd April 1916. In May he was hospitalised with inflamed tonsils but he finally joined the 18th Battalion on 1st August.
He was killed in action either the next day or the following day – 2nd or 3rd August 1916.
Pte A E Cole (3821) reported:
‘He was killed on August 3rd. (not Aug.2nd.), while we were digging a jumping-off trench in front of the front line at Pozières. The Germans spotted us and put up a barrage. A shell caught McGrath and killed him outright. His head was blown off. I saw his dead body. I know nothing as to its burial. It had to be left there when we came in. He came from somewhere about Mudgee. I came over in the 9th.Reinf. to the 18th.Bn. with him, and knew him quite well.’
McGrath’s body was not recovered, and he had no known grave. In 1955, the remains of McGrath and another soldier, Harry Bottomley (1885), were located in isolated graves in France. The remains of both were exhumed and re-interred in London Cemetery Extension, High Wood, Longueval, France.
The Imperial War Graves Commission desired to contact the next of kin to advise of the new location, but the only addresses which the Australian Military Authorities could provide were those of parents, given on Attestation, 40 years earlier.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Click images to start slideshow.