Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 05/02/1916
- Date of Discharge
- 18/05/1919
- Place of Enlistment
- Brisbane, Queensland
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Place of Birth
- Long Gully, Woden ACT
- Address (at enlistment)
- Murwillumbah NSW (previously Long Gully, Woden ACT and Acton ACT)
- Occupation
- Carpenter
- Next of Kin
- Agnes May Ryan (wife), Murwillumbah NSW
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- 5100
- Final Rank
- Sergeant
- Final Unit
- 31 Battalion AIF
Notes
Michael Ryan was born in 1885 in the Long Gully area near Woden - a twin son of William and Ellen Ryan - and probably also lived at his parent's property 'Braeside' in Majura. He moved to Murwillumbah, where he married, and worked as a carpenter before he and his family returned to Canberra in 1907. However, by the time he enlisted in February 1916 in Brisbane, he had moved back to Murwillumbah. He arrived in France on 24 September 1916 as a Private with the 31st Battalion. He suffered from trench feet on the Somme battlefield near Gueudecourt in January 1917 and was hospitalised in England. Ryan rejoined his unit on 6 July 1917 and was promoted to Corporal but accidentally broke his ankle in August 1917. He rejoined the 31st Battalion in March 1918, was promoted to temporary Sergeant, participated in the Battle of Amiens in August 1918 and was then wounded by poison gas on 30 September 1918 during the attack on the Hindenburg Line near Bellicourt. After being discharged from hospital in February 1919 he returned to Australia and was discharged in Brisbane on 18 May 1919. Ryan was living in Coorparoo in Brisbane when he died on 24 August 1949 and is buried in Toowong Cemetery.
Description - height 5 feet 7 inches, weight 137 pounds, chest 35-38 inches, dark complexion, brown eyes, black hair, Catholic.
Sources
National Library of Australia : Country Women's Association of NSW (Canberra Branch) History, 1959 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 734)
Valerie Bofinger, 'Ryan: from Moycarkey, Tipperary to Mulligans Flat NSW', 1999
NLA - Queensland Births, Deaths & Marriages
Queanbeyan Leader - 22 October 1907
Courier-Mail - 27 August 1949
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)