O'SHANNESSY, Stephen James
| Service Number: | 686 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 10 January 1917 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 41st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Brunswick Victoria , Australia, August 1895 |
| Home Town: | Mackay, Mackay, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Saddler |
| Died: | War related, 16th Australian General Hospital’s Military Mental Asylum, Melbourne, 15 April 1923 |
| Cemetery: |
Coburg Pine Ridge Cemetery, Victoria, Australia |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 10 Jan 1917: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 686, 12th Machine Gun Company | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Jun 1917: | Involvement Private, 686, 12th Machine Gun Company, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '21' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Suevic embarkation_ship_number: A29 public_note: '' | |
| 21 Jun 1917: | Embarked Private, 686, 12th Machine Gun Company, HMAT Suevic, Melbourne | |
| 9 Sep 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 47th Infantry Battalion | |
| 12 Dec 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 42nd Infantry Battalion | |
| 30 Mar 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 686, 42nd Infantry Battalion, German Spring Offensive 1918, GSW to shoulder | |
| 26 May 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 686, 42nd Infantry Battalion, gas | |
| 23 Oct 1918: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 41st Infantry Battalion | |
| 4 Mar 1921: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 686, 41st Infantry Battalion, 3rd MD |
Help us honour Stephen James O'Shannessy's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From How We Served
The final resting place of;- 868 Private Stephen James O’Shannessy of Brunswick, Victoria had been employed as a saddler when he enlisted for War service on the 10th of January 1917 and was allocated to reinforcements for the 12th Machine Gun Company 1st AIF.
Stephen was embarked for England and further training, departing Australia on the 21st of June and following his arrival he was transferred over to the 47th Battalion on the 9th of September before proceeding to France. Having arrived and being disembarked Stephen was transferred to the 43nd Battalion and joined his new Unit in the field on the 8th of December. Stephen remained on duty in the trenches until he was wounded in action on the 30th of March 1918 due to a gunshot wound to the shoulder and following receiving medical treatment he was sent back to the trenches on the 2nd of April. On the 26th of May Stephen was wounded for a second occasion, having been gassed, and he was sent away for hospitalisation and by the 31st of July he had been retuned to his Unit before being transferred over to the 41st Battalion with whom he would remain with until the War’s end.
Whilst still in France Stephen was detached to duty with the War Graves Registration Unit on the 10th of March 1919, and remained on duty until he suffered a breakdown and was evacuated to England for hospitalisation where he arrived on the 30th of June and was admitted into the Royal Victorian Hospital having been cited as suffering insanity due to War Service.
On the 9th of December Stephen was repatriated back to Australia as an invalid and following his arrival he was admitted into the 16th Australian General Hospital’s Military Mental Asylum on the 27th of January 1920. Stephen was still in residence within the Asylum at the time of his death on the 15th of April 1923 and following his passing Stephen was interred in his family’s collective burial point within Coburg Cemetery, Victoria.
Click images to start slideshow.