Profile

BRIEN, William Stewart
(Service number 6/1785)

Aliases
First Rank (1) Lance Corporal (2) Private Last Rank Sergeant

Birth

Date Unknown Place of Birth

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Shearman St, Waimate
Occupation Carpenter
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs J. Brien (mother), Shearman St, Waimate
Religion
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation (1) 4th Reinforcements (2) NZEF
Unit, Squadron, or Ship (1) Canterbury Infantry Battalion (2) 10th Reinforcements Canterbury Infantry Battalion, C Company
Date 17/4/1915; 4/3/1916
Transport (1) Willochra or Knight Templar or Waitomo (2) Willochra or Tofua
Embarked From Wellington Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Canterbury Infantry Regiment; 2nd Battalion

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards Military Medal

Award Circumstances and Date

London Gazette, 13 March 1918, p3254, Rec No.1797: Operations opposite Polderhoek 27th November to 1st December 1917. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. During the aboel period this NCO was in command of the Battalion Carrying Party bringing rations up to the troops in the Front line. The enemy shelled the track at dusk and dawn with H.E shrapnel, and also with Machine Guns, but Sergt Brien personally led his party through the barrage, where a less resolute leader would not have succeeded. He never once ailed to bring up hot rations to the men in the trenches, and in these duties showed marked powers of command, initiative and readiness to assume responsibility. He showed the greatest devotion to duty, an utter disregard for danger, and his services were of the greatest value to his Battalion.

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 13 December 1917 Age 21
Place of Death Ypres, Belgium
Cause Killed in action
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Polygon Wood Cemetery, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Memorial Reference D. 14
New Zealand Memorials On Memorial wall, Timaru; St Augustine Church War memorial; Waimate First World War Memorial

Biographical Notes

William Brien was the son of Jessie Brien, of Waimate and the late Robert Brien

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Databse (Oct 2013)

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available.

Researched and Written by

Carol Bell, SC branch NZSG & Timaru Herald

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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