Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 27/08/1915
- Place of Enlistment
- Cootamundra NSW
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Date of Birth
- 15/05/1894
- Place of Birth
- Tidbinbilla ACT
- Address (at enlistment)
- Tharwa ACT
- Occupation
- Labourer
- Next of Kin
- Son of Wilhelmina (Minnie) Ursulina Stuckey (nee Flanagan) of 29 Mackay Street, Surry Hills NSW.
- Burial Place
France 144 Adelaide British Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, France in plot 3, row A, grave 11
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- 5373
- Final Rank
- Private
- Final Unit
- 13 Battalion AIF
Fate
Died (killed in action) 15 May 1918, Villers-Bretonneux, France
Commemoration
AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 69, Canberra ACT
Notes
Andrew Flanagan grew up with relatives in Tharwa and Tidbinbilla; his mother was unmarried at the time of his birth and he never met his father. He was working near Cootamundra when he enlisted in August 1915 with the 13th Battalion, arriving in France in October 1916. Flanagan was injured at the First Battle of Bullecourt on 11 April 1917. He was convicted of negligently handling a rifle and shooting himself in the foot near Messines on 10 June 1917 and was court martialled. After serving a sentence of 42 days he rejoined his unit in December 1917 despite stiffness in his wounded foot. He was a Lewis gunner in 3 Platoon, A Company of the 13th Battalion when he was killed in action near Villers-Bretonneux on his 24th birthday on 15 May 1918. In one version of events a German shell landed on a box of bombs that Flanagan was about to handle. Another eye witness stated that he was killed at about 5.30pm in the afternoon when a shell landed on his dugout.
Description - height 5 feet 6 inches, weight 128 pounds, chest 35 inches, dark complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, Catholic.
Sources
AWM Roll of Honour Database
First World War Nominal Roll
First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
AWM Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Files
Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Queanbeyan Age - 16 May 1919
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Personal information from Pam Ray, Yarralumla ACT, who is related to the Flanagan family