| Regimental number | 368 |
| Place of birth | Geelong, Victoria |
| School | State School, Freshwater Creek, Victoria |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | Contractor |
| Address | Fresh Water Creek, Geelong, Victoria |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 25 |
| Next of kin | J Cantwell, Fresh Water Creek, Geelong, Victoria |
| Enlistment date | |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 8th Battalion, C Company |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/25/1 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board Transport A24 Benalla on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Sergeant |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 8th Battalion |
| Recommendations (Medals and Awards) |
Military Medal Splendid work in repelling counter-attacks and re-organising line, showing fine courage and setting splendid example to men. (8-9 May 1917) Recommendation date: |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | France |
| Age at death | 28 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 28 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 7), Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
| Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial | 52 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: John and Alice CANTWELL, Archie's Creek,Victoria. Native of Geelong, Victoria |
| Medals |
Military Medal Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 189 Date: |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front Embarked from Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 5 April 1915. Appointed Lance Corporal and Acting Corporal, Lemnos, 19 October 1915; Temporary Corporal, 19 October 1915; reverted to Lance Corporal, 31 October 1915; appointed Temporary Corporal, 8 December 1915. Disembarked Alexandria, 7 January 1916 (general Gallipoli evacuation). Promoted Corporal, 26 February 1916. Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 26 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 31 March 1916. Promoted Temporary Sergeant, 30 July 1916; Sergeant, 12 August 1916. Transferred to 2nd Training Bn, Perham Downs, England, 13 May 1917. Admitted to Fargo Military Hospital, 11 June 1917 (influenza); discharged to duty. Awarded the Military Medal, 2 July 1917. Proceeded overseas to France, 2 October 1917; rejoined 8th Bn, 5 October 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 25 October 1917. Medals: Military Medal, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
