CLEARY, Patrick
| Service Number: | 6486 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Albury, New South Wales, Australia, May 1891 |
| Home Town: | Cowra, Cowra, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia , 1983, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Cowra & District Great War Honor Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 7 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 6486, 3rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 6486, 3rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Maree Woods
Patrick Cleary was the fourth child of twelve children and the second son of four sons of Thomas Cleary and Elizabeth Walsh of Mulyan, Cowra, NSW. He was the grandson of Thomas Cleary and Bridget Heffernan and a first cousin of Kathleen Flinn Smyth.
Patrick seemed to have a troubled life before he enlisted as the below missing persons notice from 1915 shows.
Patrick enlisted on April 25th, 1916 in Cootamundra NSW, in B Company of the 3rd Battalion. He left Sydney on the troopship “Ceramic” on October 7th and arrived in Plymouth England on November 21st. By December Patrick was with his battalion in the trenches near Bapaume. They worked at improving trenches and avoiding and returning occasional enemy fire. By February the artillery fire increased and the battalion witnessed allied aircraft engaging with enemy aircraft in the skies above their trenches. Towards the end of February, the battalion had moved to Thilloy where the enemy was focussing their attack. The unit diary for March 1917 shows that they were close to the enemy and B company was on the front line on March 1st. The diary entry for March 2nd described exactly what happened to Patrick Cleary.
Patrick was imprisoned in the Limburg Prisoner of War camp from July 1917 until August 1918. Limburg held many Irish prisoners who were visited by the Irish republican leader Roger Casement in an attempt to win recruits for the forthcoming Irish rebellion.
Patrick was released from the prison camp and returned to England via Holland in August 1918 and was treated in the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley, in Southampton, England. He was returned to Australia on the Medic in April 1919 and little is known of him until 1929 when he was recorded as missing from the Catholic Presbytery at Parramatta. Patrick died in 1983.
Patrick’s name is recorded on the 1914-1918 Honour Roll of Cowra and District. His name is also recorded on the Ballarat ex-Prisoners of War Memorial.