Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 04/08/1915
- Date of Discharge
- 07/04/1919
- Place of Enlistment
- Gunning NSW
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Place of Birth
- Gunning NSW
- Address (at enlistment)
- Goulburn NSW (previously Royalla ACT)
- Occupation
- Teacher
- Next of Kin
- Patrick Byrne (father), Montague Street, Goulburn NSW
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- 8749
- Final Rank
- Gunner
- Final Unit
- 2 Division Artillery AIF
Notes
Byrne was born in Gunning in 1893 and was the school teacher at Royalla when he enlisted on 4 August 1915. He was farewelled at the school a few days later and presented with a set of military brushes by his students and a wrist watch by the community. Byrne served with his brother Patrick, embarking together in November 1915 with the 2nd Division Ammunition Column and joined the 104th Field Battery in Egypt. From May 1916 he served with the 4th Field Artillery Brigade in France before being hospitalised with trench feet in February 1917. He returned to serve with the 104th Field Battery before receiving a gun shot wound to his right thigh in September 1918. He returned to Australia with his brother in January 1919 and was discharged the following April. Byrne died on 18 January 1962 in Sydney.
Description - height 5 feet 11 inches, weight 130 pounds, chest 33 inches, dark complexion, dark brown eyes, dark brown hair, Catholic.
Sources
Lyall Gillespie, 'Early Education and Schools in the Canberra Region', 1999
Queanbeyan Age - 3 April 1917, 1 January 1919
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)