Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Hugh Michael Flynn was born on the 14th November 1887 at Warwick Queensland, the eldest of 2 sons and the 4th eldest of 8 children born to his parents Hugh and Ellen Flynn.  The family lived at Clayfield, a suburb of Brisbane and Hugh’s formal education took place at the Christian Brothers College on Gregory Terrace, a Roman Catholic school in Brisbane which is now known as St Joseph’s College. 

After leaving school Hugh went on to become a school teacher and at one point Hugh was in charge of all Junior Cadet Training at Milton State School.  Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s the pupil-teacher method was used for the training of school teachers.  Children as young as 14 were enlisted as apprentices and worked as class teachers during the school day and received their teacher training before and after school. 

Hugh was also very talented at playing rugby union for the Brothers Old Boys Club and in 1913 he represented Queensland playing alongside his younger brother Jimmy in the interstate match against NSW.  Nine of the 13 players were from the Brothers Old Boys Club and Queensland went on to win 22-21.  His brother Jimmy was selected for the Wallabies Team the following year and went on to have quite a distinguished football career. 

With the outbreak of war, Hugh enlisted in the AIF on the 12th May 1915 at Brisbane aged 27.  His rank was Private, his service number was 2618 and he was assigned to the 4th Light Horse Field Ambulance as a stretcher bearer.  He’s described as being 6ft tall with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. 

He proceeded to the Enoggera Camp in Brisbane where he did his initial training before embarking from Brisbane on the 16th June 1915 on HMAT Borda.  He disembarked at Egypt and proceeded to the camp at Tel-el-Kebir where he remained until March 1916.  While at Tel-el-Kebir he transferred to the 3rd Field Ambulance where he served alongside my grandfather Cyril Morsley.  On the 28th March the whole of the 3rd Field Ambulance embarked from Alexandria on the HMT Kingstonian bound for France.  During the voyage they lost a man overboard.  This is an entry from grandfather’s diary describing the event on the 30th March. 

“At 9.15pm I heard the cry “Man Overboard!” & the steam hooter on the funnel made an awful din.  It appears that Fennell (Private P.E.R. 2252) walked in his sleep & walked over the rail.  The Sentry saw him & shouted.  We went full steam astern, lowered a boat & a buoy etc. but did not recover his body.  Continued on with the journey by 9.45pm.

Four days later the Unit disembarked at Marseilles, France and entrained.  They detrained 3 days later at Godewaersvelde then marched to the village of Pradelles where they were billeted in a farmhouse.  While here Hugh was charged with a crime...“While on active service being found out of bounds contrary to Corps orders.”  His punishment was the forfeiting of 14 days pay. 

Just 2 months later Hugh was awarded the DCM “For conspicuous gallantry in action when he assisted to carry in many wounded men from an open area heavily swept by shell fire.” 

The following is the recommendation for that award:

“At Pozieres on the morning of July 23rd 1916, he in the company with Private Wilsdon, went to the front line trenches occupied by the 11th Battalion to bring out wounded.  The communication trenches were full of troops going up to the line.  The two men climbed over the side of the trench and carried the wounded down over open country under very heavy shell fire.”

Hugh was promoted to Lance Corporal on the 8th August 1916.

On the 27th September 1916 at La Vicogne, in the presence of the whole 3rd Field Ambulance, Hugh along with 2 others from his Unit and a doctor, were presented with the DCM by the Army Corps Commander Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood.  This entry from my grandfather’s diary records the event:

“Early parade 6am.  Struck tents some 10 Bells & operations.  Moved off 9am to La Vicogne some 8 mile march, packs up.  Arrived 12.30pm & had a hurried lunch.  2.30pm parade, full dress.  A grand parade, all of the 3rd Brigade.  General Birdwood presented D.C.M. (Distinguished Conduct Medal) to some 20 men.  Fry, Flynn, Wilsdon & Dr Fitzpatrick all one each.”

The next day the Unit marched out to Gezaincourt and 3 days later entrained to Proven, Belgium.  By mid-October they were back in France and moved every couple of days.  The Unit was camped near Albert when, in the early hours of the 11th November 1916, the camp was bombed killing one man instantly and seriously wounding 4 others.  By the end of the day 2 more of the men had died.  This is the entry recorded in the Unit diary:

“At 00.40 this morning an enemy aeroplane flying low, dropped 6 bombs on the 1st Anzac Rest Station.  Five patients were killed outright, thirty three wounded more or less seriously and three slightly.  Of the personnel at this station one was killed, four seriously wounded and one slightly wounded.  All of these belonged to No. 3 Australian Field Ambulance.  One bomb was dropped on the Orderly Room, destroying a number of the records of the station and of the unit.  Damage was done to four marquee tents and eight bell tents.  The distinguishing lamps were burning brightly at the time the attack was made.” 

My grandfather also records this event in his diary:

“Bombed our camp & at 2 o’clock poor McNeil was brought in nearly dead - grasped on my arm.  Later Staff Sergeant Bannister came in with fractured femur & buttock blown off.  Sergeant Roy Elliott was killed & 8 others.  Patients many, 36 wounded, I dressed most, some very serious…Corporal Grieves & Baxter.  Staff Sergeant Bannister died tonight 7pm.  ‘Dad’ (One of the Drs) had just visited him, hip gone & split nearly in halves, I saw him as he died - saluted and left sad.  3 of our men gone now.”

After having experienced quite a lot of action during 1916, Hugh started 1917 with a much less dangerous action by proceeding to the Cadet Training School in England at the end of January.  He was posted to No.2 Officer Cadet Battalion at Pembroke College in Cambridge.  While in England he went to the Eastern General Hospital to have his eyes tested and was diagnosed with Astigmatism which causes blurry and distorted vision.  The cure being he had to wear glasses. 

Hugh was promoted to Second Lieutenant on the 3rd August 1917 and upon completing his Officer training was posted to general reinforcements.  On the 18th August he proceeded to France from Southampton and the following day marched into 1st Australian Division Base Depot at Le Havre, France.  Two days later he was posted to the 9th Australian Infantry Battalion D Company.

Just a month later, on the 20th September 1917, Hugh was involved in the “Battle of Menin Road” which was part of the Third Battle of Ypres on the Western Front.  It was an offensive operation undertaken by the British Army under the command of General Viscount Herbert Plumer.  This was the first involvement of Australian units from the 1st and 2nd Divisions in the Third Battle of Ypres and they spearheaded the operation which commenced at dawn.  The 9th Battalion was allocated to the Polygon Wood-Nonne Bosschen sector.  The troops had to overcome formidable entrenched German positions which included concrete pill-box strongpoints as well as contend with some fierce fighting.  Plumer implemented the “bite and hold” tactic which involved a short advance by the infantry behind a heavy artillery barrage followed by the infantry digging in on the position gained, while a barrage placed in front of them prevented the Germans from counterattacking.  The battle raged for 5 days from the 20th-25th September and while the attack was successful, it was also very costly with the British casualties being between 20,000 and 25,000 and the Australian losses were over 5,000. 

On the first day of this battle the 9th Battalion alone suffered 149 wounded, 56 missing and 35 killed.  Sadly, one of those 35 was Hugh having suffered a direct hit from shell fire.  He was aged 29.  The following are witness accounts given by some of the men serving alongside him at the time and were recorded in his Red Cross file.

L/Corporal H Clough 5761 9th Bn  - I saw him killed at Polygon Wood.  He was leading his men in an attack when he was caught by a shell and blown to pieces.  Casualty happened about 7am.  He had not been with us long but he was a very popular Officer and was very well liked by everybody.  We held the ground but I do not know the place of burial and I cannot refer to anyone for details.

L/Corporal D Buckby 903 D XV 9th Bn  - He was killed in the first hop over at Ypres on 20th September.  He was caught by a whiz bang directly we had gone over and died within a few minutes.  I was close to him but another chap stopped with him about 2 minutes till he died but I cannot remember his name.  We advanced at once and I do not know where he would be buried.  He was in charge of our Platoon D XV and was very much liked by the boys.  He came out originally with a Field ambulance – very thin – about 6 foot and sandy. 

L/Corporal L Godfrey 2374 9th Bn – At Polygon Wood, 20th September, killed at once by shell.  I saw him killed but don’t know where he’s buried.  He was our Officer, fairly decent sort.

Private E C Martin 1595 9th Bn C Company – I saw him killed instantly by a whiz bang.  He was badly knocked about and it was impossible for him to be buried.  I knew him in the Company.  He was a great footballer. 

Private W T Bell 6705 Division Headquarters - Lieutenant Flynn was in D Company and commanded XV Platoon.  About daybreak on 20th September as we made an advance in Polygon Wood I saw Flynn killed by the explosion of a shell.  I was about 15 yards off him.  We retained possession of our ground.  I never heard if his body was recovered and buried. 

An entry in Hugh’s service records reports that some of the men of his unit buried him, however, because the grave was never registered, his final resting place is unknown.  After the war Hugh’s father and sister both wrote letters to the Army asking for information about the location of Hugh’s grave and this was reply his sister received: 

“I regret that no information has been received regarding his burial so in the absence of official advice of registration it must be concluded that the Graves Registration Unit have not succeeded in locating his final resting place.  Arrangements have been made for three photographs of the graves of our fallen soldiers to be sent free of charge to the next of kin as soon as they can be made available.  Failing the discovery and identification of the actual remains, it is the intention of the authorities to perpetuate the memory of these fallen by means of collective memorials upon which the full regimental description of the soldier and date of death will be inscribed.”

Hugh’s name appears on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium.  This memorial is dedicated to over 55,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient in WW1 and whose graves are unknown.  The memorial was built on the site where the lion sculptures stood on guard before and during WW1 at the place called Menin Gate.  The Australian troops walked past these lions on their way to and from the front.  After the war the lions were gifted to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra by the Mayor of Ypres in honour of the Australian troops who fought in the Ypres Salient.  In 2017 the lions were transported back to Ypres to stand guard at Menin Gate for the WW1 Centenary celebrations.  They were returned to Australia and once again they’re standing guard at the entrance to the Australian War Memorial where Hugh’s name is etched on panel 55 of the Roll of Honour. 

In the years following the war Hugh’s parents received the WW1 Memorial Plaque, Scroll and letter from King George acknowledging the sacrifice of their son.  Hugh’s family inserted a memoriam notice in the Brisbane Courier Mail newspaper every year on the anniversary of his death.  His name appears along with his parent’s names on their grave plot headstone at the Nudgee Cemetery QLD. 

The LT. H.M. Flynn D.C.M. - FLTLT. L.S. Lewis Memorial Challenge Shield was developed and instigated in 2011 in memory of Hugh and Flight Lieutenant Lewis who had both played for the Brothers Old Boys Club prior to the war.

In 2015 the Queensland Rugby Union and the Australian Defence Force teamed up to commemorate ANZAC Day and the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli with a specially designed jersey for the team’s game against New Zealand’s Hurricanes.  The jerseys featured the Rising Sun emblem and 10 of them carried the names of former Queensland Rugby representatives who served in WW1.  Hugh’s name was one of those 10 names. 

Hugh Michael Flynn was awarded for service in WW1 the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal and the Distinguished Conduct Medal. 

Respectfully submitted by Sue Smith 20th July 2021