Saturday, April 25, 2015

Richard O'Brien Gallipoli 25 April 2015

On 25 April 1915 Richard O'Brien (introduced in Richard O'Brien enlisted 19 September 1914) with C Company of the 15th Battalion was aboard HMT Seeang Bee anchored opposite the disembarkation point at 4pm.   His company was with the balance of troops from Seang Bee which landed at Anzac Cover at 9 am on 26 April 1915.  Under Captain Quinn (after whom Quinn's Post was named) C Company and one platoon of B Company were ordered to support the right of the 3rd Brigade.

Richard O'Brien's file shows that only 2 days later he suffered a gun shot wound to the shoulder on 28 April 1915.   He was taken to hospital ship Gascon and then to Shibin-El-Kem hospital near Cairo, Egypt.

His file shows that his father was notified 'wounded in action at the Dardanelles'.

Richard rejoined his battalion on 13 June 1915 and had plenty of war ahead of him.

Meanwhile on 5 May 1915 the C Company was in bivouac with the rest of the 15th Battalion at Monash Valley.  The battalion was then involved in the attack at Quinn's Post.  The enemy counter attacked.

10 May 1915
Heavy casualties to the number of 160 killed and wounded were suffered by our battalion during the withdrawal of our troops to the original position.

14 May 1915
In addition to the officers the following are the other ranks casualties to date: killed 108, missing 103, sick 23, wounded 296, unaccounted for nil.

Sources:  Unit war diary AWM4 23/32/6 - April 1915, AWM4 23/32/7 - May 1915, WW1 service file