Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

02/08/1915

Date of Discharge

29/07/1919

Place of Enlistment

Goulburn NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Majura ACt

Address (at enlistment)

Majura ACT

Occupation

Shop assistant

Next of Kin

William McIntosh (father), Majura NSW

Service Number

18710

Final Rank

Sergeant

Final Unit

7 Field Artillery Brigade AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Roll of Honor Queanbeyan Public School, Isabella Street, Queanbeyan NSW
Roll of Honour at St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Lowe Street, Queanbeyan NSW
Majura Honour Roll - refer Queanbeyan Age 21 May 1918

Arnold McIntosh was born in 1893 at Majura and was working as a shop assistant at Hayes & Russell in Queanbeyan when he enlisted on 2 August 1915 in Goulburn as a 21 year old. He arrived in France at the end of December 1916 as a Sergeant with the 26th Battery, 7th Field Artillery Brigade. He was gassed in June 1917 (probably near Messines) when, as he later wrote, shells "were coming over like a hail storm and it was impossible to dodge them. I felt pretty bad for a couple of days". He was hospitalised in September 1917, during Third Ypres, with contusions to the thigh and abdomen. He joked about returning to work where "he could look after the powder magazine, having had a slight experience oh high explosives, or perhaps look after the gas; or any time they have a fast trip to do, I am quite used to leading teams at the gallop over rough ground, through hedges and ditches, sometimes capsizing; a shell or two often baulks us for a minute or two". McIntosh returned to Australia in June 1919 and was discharged on 29 July 1919.

In 1920 he was granted the lease to a soldier settler's block 143A in the Majura valley just north of Canberra Airport which he called 'Macville'. He married Florence McKeahnie of Wattle Valley in 1929. McIntosh died on 2 June 1934 in Canberra from his war wounds.

Description - height 5 feet 7 inches, weight 160 pounds, chest 35½ inches, dark complexion, brown eyes, dark brown hair, Presbyterian.

Our Queanbeyan 'Boys', Howard & Shearsby, Yass (postcard)
Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
National Library of Australia : Country Women's Association of NSW (Canberra Branch) History, 1959 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 734)
Queanbeyan Age - 1 February 1916, 31 August 1917, 31 January 1918, 26 February 1918, 21 May 1918, 23 July 1918
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)