Profile

SULLIVAN, Michael
(Service number 6/559)

Aliases
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Sergeant

Birth

Date	07/10/1890	Place of Birth	Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date	11 August 1914	Age	23 yrs 7 mths
Address at Enlistment	34 William Street, Timaru
Occupation	Labourer (Timaru Brewery Coy)
Previous Military Experience	2nd South Canterbury Regiment
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	John SULLIVAN, 34 William Street, Timaru
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 7 inches. Weight 140 lbs. Chest 33-35 inches. Complexion dark. Eyes brown. Hair black. Sight, hearing, colour vision all good. Limbs and chest well formed. Full movement of joints. Heart and lungs normal. Teeth fair. Free from hernia, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Slight varicocele. Good bodily and mental health. No slight defects.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	Main Body
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Canterbury Infantry Battalion
Date	16 October 1914
Transport	Tahiti or Athenic
Embarked From	Lyttelton, Canterbury	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals	1914-15 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

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	16 November 1917	Reason	No longer physically fit for War Service on account of Wounds received in Action.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

9 July 1916 wounded right hand & face, admitted to hospital. 15 March 1917 reported wounded for 3rd time. 16 March 1917 dangerously ill - wound to left knee, side. 21 March 1917 admitted to hospital in France - shrapnell left side (slight). 28 March 1917 still dangerously ill. 3 April 1917 in London - removed from dangerously ill list. 16 April 1917 admitted to Walton-on-Thames hospital - gun shot wounds to knee, buttock (slight). 22 May 1917 transferred to Discharge Depot at Torquay.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	11 June 1959	Age	67 yrs
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Timaru Cemetery
Memorial Reference	General Section; Row 23; Plot 296
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Son of John & Bridget SULLIVAN. Brother John Burtman SULLIVAN was killed in action in 1916. Another brother, Patrick Joseph SULLIVAN, also served in WWI. Michael was among the first men to enlist and, like many other local men, he had already undergone military training. He was one of many keen and determined applicants at the Drill Shed on 11 August 1914. He was not one of those rejected, mostly for defects to the teeth and one or two on account of height; he passed the medical exanimation and was sworn in. The successful applicants were liable to be called up at any moment, and it was quite probable that they would leave Timaru in a matter of days for the central camp at Christchurch as part of the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment's quota. . He gave 3 years 98 days to war service, all but 119 days overseas, during which time he suffered more than his share of wounds and illness. He embarked at Plymouth on 21 July 1917 to return to New Zealand per Arawa. On 26 December 1952 Michael suffered a fracture of the left femur in a motor accident (not his fault); he had to wear a caliper and was left with some permanent disability additional to the disability from his war injury. The leg fractured in the accident was the same leg as was injured in World War I. See Personnel File for details of war injury.

Sources

Cenotaph Database [24 August 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK18805 W5553 0110729) [20 April 2014]; TDC headstone image, Timaru Cemetery [24 August 2013]; Timaru Herald, 12 August 1914 (Papers Past) [01 September 2014]

External Links

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