Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Charles Carey McPhee was my Great-Great(-Great?) Uncle, and he joined up for World War 1 on 9/2/1916, at the age of 28 years, 11 months. He was appointed to the 4th Machine Gun Regiment, and enrolled in Geelong, Victoria, and was a Private. Between the time 29/9/1916 - 20/10/1916 (when I guess he was training, to the time he was deployed overseas), he was given the rank of Corporal, and on the 20/10/1916 embarked from Melbourne on the "Port Lincoln", where he disembarked in Devonport, England, on 28/12/16. From this time to 7/9/1917, he received training in different parts of England, where he gained another promotion to Sergeant. On the 7/9/17, he and his unit were sent by boat to France (most likely Passchendaele), but it appears 2 days after he arrived in France, he was hospitalised until he rejoined his unit again on 21/10/17. On 6/4/18 he was pronounced "Missing". There must have been a report from someone who was there, because nearly 2 weeks later, he was "unofficially reported as a Prisoner of War, in German hands". On 9/12/18, Charles Carey arrived back in England, to be repatriated. Whilst he was a Prisoner of War, Charles Carey kept a diary, where he recorded what life was like, and form the sounds of it wasw mundane. On 11 and 12/2/19, he spent time in England most likely doing office duties in A.I.F Headquarters. Not long after this, Charles Carey found employment with the Y.M.C.A in London. This later allowed him to be granted an Honorary Rank of Lieutenant. On 6/7/19, Charles Carey left for Australia on the H.T. "Boorara", and supposedly arrived in Melbourne on the 16th July. Charles Carey McPhee died on the 29/5/1957, at the age of 69.