Brennan, William Charles (1885)
Place of Birth: Geelong, VIC
Age: 18 years 5 months
Enlistment Details: Thursday, 2 March 1916 – Melbourne, VIC
Service Number: 1885 view online service record
Address:
385 Princes Street
Port Melbourne, VIC
Next of Kin:
Francis Brennan (father)
385 Princes Street
Port Melbourne, VIC
Embarkation Details:
Date: Saturday, 8 July 1916
Ship: HMAT Ajana A31
Port: Melbourne, VIC
Unit: 57th Infantry Battalion – 3rd Reinforcements
Fate:
KIA: Thursday, 3 May 1917
Place: France
Brother: George Edward Brennan
Private, 21 Infantry, killed in action 3 May, 1917, aged 19, France, commemorated Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France.
Father: Francis BRENNAN, born Geelong, educated Christian Brothers? Enlisted as an 18-year-old labourer with his father at 385 Princes Street as next of kin, later shown as “Cape Breton House”, 113 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne. Brother, 5796, George Edward BRENNAN enlisted with he and his wife at at 399 Princes Street, later at 93 Nott Street. Circular returned from 178 Station Street.
Additional research by Brian Membrey
W Brennan was listed on the Swimming Club Roll of Honour, 25 November 1916.
1916 ‘ROLL OF HONOR.’, Port Melbourne Standard (Vic. : 1914 – 1920), 25 November, p. 2. , viewed 04 Nov 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91164781
1 Comments
Brian Membrey
“Brennan was on the same M.G. as I was. He had picked up a Lewis Gun of ours and was firing it and got sniped. This occurred at Bullecourt on 3rd May 1917 about 7 o’clock in the morning. He was buried where he lay. We had got through the first and second line of the Germans and were in shell holes digging in to the right of Bullecourt Village. I saw the casualty and was by his side when it occurred and saw the body buried. Afterwards when we had gone further on a burial party was set up and the bodies of those that had fallen were buried at the same place and crosses erected to all of them. Brennan would have had a cross erected for his grave” (Private D A Stephenson, 4824A, 21st Battn)