Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of James Edward and Alice Matilda Ryan, of Goomalling, Western Australia.

HIS DUTY NOBLY DONE...SWEET JESUS HAVE MERCY ON HIS SOUL

Deep regret and sorrow was visited upon Goomalling when on Monday afternoon Mrs. Jim Ryan received official notification that her third son, Pte. Wilfred Ryan, had died on  October 25th as the result of wounds sustained in action in New Guinea. The news that he had been wounded was received by his mother on and inst, and later word advised that  his wounds were multiple and his condition serious, ominous portents but at the same time only slightly softening the final hard blow. Mere words are inadequate to express  the sympathy felt for the sorrowing mother and three remaining brothers: Pte Arthur Pember (A.I F.), Pte. Jack Ryan (A.I.F.) and Alan Ryan.
It is impossible to realize as yet that Wilf. Ryan bas gone the way of many of Australia's gallant lads.  Perchance it was his fate that he should lay down his young life in defence of his country and fellow people.

Reared in Goomalling, he was always a sincere and trustworthy lad. By those of his own age, pleasant memories of him will remain for long of schooldays happily spent.  In boyhood sports he was a helpful member of the Goomalling Cycle Club during its several years of activity and was among the strongest riders in the club. Entering the ranks of  the Austral Football Club when quite a lad in 1936, he played sufficiently well in 1937 to be awarded the trophy for the most improved junior in the team. In 1938 he earned the  trophy for the most unselfish player and in 1939 was outstanding in the team, gaining the distinction of the best and fairest player in Australs (awarded on the weekly votes of the central umpire). That was his last year in local football, but memories of his sterling play at centre will keep memories of him green for many years in Goomalling when good  football and footballers are discussed.

' During 1940, the late Wilf. Ryan was employed at Reedy's, near Cue. Enlisting fairly early in the war, he was attached for a good long period to a coastal defence unit, eventually securing his release to join the A.I.F. When recruits were called last year to reinforce a famous W.A. battalion that had suffered heavy casualties in the Middle East, he was among  the reinforcements. Returning later to Australia, the battalion some weeks ago went into action in New Guinea, where he received fatal wounds. Life is but short at best and his  sorrowing near relatives and friends may gain some consolation with the passage of time in the knowledge that he gave his all for his country.