Ernest Arthur EGAN

EGAN, Ernest Arthur

Service Number: 5588
Enlisted: 17 August 1914
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 23rd Infantry Battalion
Born: St Kilda, 17 May 1878
Home Town: Fitzroy, Yarra, Victoria
Schooling: St Paricks East Melbourne
Occupation: Clerk
Died: Killed in Action, France, 20 March 1917, aged 38 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Buried between Vaulx Vrancoult and Noreuil, Unmarked grave, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France)
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World War 1 Service

17 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1
19 Oct 1914: Embarked AIF WW1, HMAT A20 Hororata
25 Sep 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 5588, 23rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Shropshire embarkation_ship_number: A9 public_note: ''
25 Sep 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 5588, 23rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Shropshire, Melbourne
Date unknown: Involvement 23rd Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières

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Biography

Ernest was 37yo when he enlisted. He followed his younger brother (Joseph) Raymond Egan who fought at Gallipoli, and had been transferred on the hospital ship "Valdivia" to Egypt. He was in the 23rd Battalion, 15th Reinforcements, and arrived first in Plymouth England, on 11-11-16. On the 16-12-16 he was transferred to France on the "Princess Henrietta". The German Army was withdrawing from the Somme in mid March 1917, and the Australians pursued them to Bapaume, which the Germans destroyed as they left. The Australians entered Bapaume on 17th March 1917, and there was a parade in the destroyed town square on the 19th, with an AIF band leading the March. The Australians pressed on, and Ernest was killed in action the following day, between Vaulx Vrancoutt and Noreuil, which is about 8.5Km NE of Bapaume. He has no known gravesite. His brother returned to Australia on 21-7-17 suffering malaria.

 

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