The AIF Project

Michael RONAN

Regimental number1582
Place of birthEnnistoymon, Ireland
ReligionRoman Catholic
OccupationLabourer
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation24
Next of kinUncle, Thomas Roonan, Killshanny, Clare, Ireland
Previous military serviceServed for 2 years in the 4th Bn, Connaught Rangers, British Army.
Enlistment date30 November 1914
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name10th Battalion, 3rd Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/27/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A54 Runic on 19 February 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll50th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 17 October 1917
Date of death1 January 1997
Age at death from cemetery records27
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 29), 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
151
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Taken on strength, 10th Bn, Gallipoli, 7 May 1915.

Admitted to 2nd Australian Field Ambulance, 6 September 1915 (dysentery); transferred to 25th Casualty Clearing Station, Mudros, 6 September 1915; to Base Details, Imbros, 8 September 1915. Embarked for Egypt, 8 September 1915 (enteritis); admitted to No. 1 Auxiliary Hospital, Cairo, 11 September 1915; to Convalescent Depot, Helouan, 28 September 1915; to Base Details, 21 October 1915. Embarked for Gallipoli, 14 November 1915.

Allotted to and proceeded to join 50th Bn, Zeitoun, 29 February 1916.

Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 5 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 12 June 1916. Admitted to No. 1 Convalescent Depot, Boulogne, 23 June 1916 (gonorrhoea); transferred to 39th General Hospital, Havre, 29 June 1916; to 18th General Hospital, Camiers, 30 June 1916; discharged to duty, 27 July 1916. Total period of treatment for venereal disease: 36 days. Found guilty, 28 July 1916, of being absent without leave from 2 pm parade: awarded forfeiture of 5 days' pay. Rejoined unit, 11 September 1916. Found guilty of being absent without leave, 9 am, 28 December 1916, to 9 pm, 28 December 1916: awarded 7 days' Field Punishment No. 2, 30 December 1916.

Admitted to 12th Australian Field Ambulance, 23 February 1917 (impetigo); transferred to 9th General Hospital, Rouen, 26 February 1917; rejoined unit, 16 April 1917.

Wounded in action, 7 June 1917 (gun shot wound, head); admitted to 32nd Stationary Hospital, Wimereux, 12 June 1917; transferred to No. 1 Convalescent Depot, 21 June 1917; to Base Details, 22 June 1917; rejoined unit, 29 July 1917. Found guilty, while on Active Service, of being absent without leave, 7 pm, 18 July 1917, till apprehended, 10 pm, 18 July 1917, and being out of bounds without a pass: awarded forfeiture of 5 days' pay. Found guilty of wandering about in horse lines at No. 8 Camp about 2 am, 25 July 1917, and giving a wrong name and number: awarded 28 days' Field Punishment No. 1.

Admitted to 4th Australian Field Ambulance, 10 August 1917 (venereal disease); transferred to 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station, 11 august 1917; to 39th General Hospital, 15 August 1917; to Base Details, 5 September 1917; rejoined unit, 16 September 1917.

Killed in action, Belgium, 17 October 1917.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Print format    


© The AIF Project 2024, UNSW Canberra. Not to be reproduced without permission.