| Regimental number | 4394 |
| Date of birth | |
| Place of birth | Crookwell, New South Wales |
| School | Merry Vale Public School, New South Wales |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | Hospital attendant |
| Address | Anzac, Joseph Street, Lidcombe, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 29 |
| Height | 5' 6" |
| Weight | 121 lbs |
| Next of kin | Mother, M A Cunningham, Joseph Street, Lidcombe, New South Wales |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Place of enlistment | Sydney, New South Wales |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 17th Battalion, 11th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/34/2 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A71 Nestor on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 17th Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Passchendaele, Ypres, Belgium |
| Age at death | 31 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 31 |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 17), 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 | 82 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Bernard and Mary Angela CUNNINGHAM, 'Ione', Leicester Avenue, Strathfield, New South Wales. Native of Crookwell, New South Wales |
| Family/military connections | Brother: 3032A Driver Alexander Ambrose CUNNINGHAM, 59th Bn, returned to Australia, 15 May 1919. |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Western Front Embarked Alexandria, 28 May 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 7 June 1916. Proceeded overseas to France, 5 September 1916; taken on strength, 17th Bn, Belgium, 15 September 1916. Admitted to 15th Casualty Clearing Station, 5 October 1916 (contusions, legs); discharged to duty, 2 November 1916. Admitted to 1st Anzac Rest Station; rejoined Bn, 5 January 1917. Wounded in action, 3 May 1917 (gun shot wound, head), and admitted to 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station; transferred to 10th General Hospital, Rouen, 5 May 1917; discharged to 2nd Australian Division Base Depot, Havre, 2 June 1917; rejoined Bn, France, 21 June 1917. Reported missing in action, Belgium, 9 October 1917. Court of Enquiry (date not recorded) confirmed fate as killed in action 0n 9 October 1917. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
