Profile

SUGRUE, Michael
(Service number 63056)

Aliases	Michael James, Mick
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Gunner

Birth

Date	16/07/1897	Place of Birth	Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date	30 July 1917	Age	20 years
Address at Enlistment	C/o F. W. Burson, Waihaorunga
Occupation	Teamster
Previous Military Experience	2nd South Canterbury Regiment
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mrs J. SUGRUE (mother), William street, Timaru
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 7 inches. Weight 10 stone 2 lbs. Chest measurement 30½-34½ inches. Complexion medium. Eyes blue. Hair medium brown. Sight normal - both eyes 6/6. Hearing and colour vision both normal. Limbs well formed. Full and perfect movement of joints. Chest well formed. Heart and lungs normal. Teeth good & sufficient. No illnesses. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Never been vaccinated. Good bodily and mental health. No fits. Large brown birth-mark 5" x 3", irregularly oval, on inner surface of left thigh.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	32nd Reinforcements, Otago Infantry Regiment, D Company
Date	21 November 1917
Transport	Maunganui
Embarked From	Wellington, New Zealand	Destination	Liverpool, England

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	NZ Field Artillery

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals	British War 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	26 March 1919	Reason	In consequence of being no longer physically fit for war service on account of illness contracted on active service (Chronic Pulmonary disease).

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

8 January 1918 - hospitalised with Bronchitis. Moved to Codford in February 1918; Hospitalised April 1918, in the Military hospital, Aberdeen, with Influenza

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	22 November 1974	Age	77 years
Place of Death	Timaru
Cause
Notices	Timaru Herald, 23 November 1974
Memorial or Cemetery	Timaru Cemetery
Memorial Reference	General Section, Row 150, Plot 1460
New Zealand Memorials	St Patrick's (Waimate) Memorial list (June 2015)

Biographical Notes

Michael SUGRUE was the youngest son of Irish-born Michael and Julia (née CRONIN) SUGRUE who married in 1882. Michael was baptised Catholic on 7 August 1897 at Timaru. When Michael enlisted he stated that no one was entirely dependent on him but that his parents were partially dependent.

After the war Michael married Jean Sarah Feeley (aka Sarah Jane) in 1927. The couple are buried together and their headstone notes the death of twin sons, William and Joseph who died in 1941.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [18 August 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK18805 W5553 0110634) [11 September 2014]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [27 July 2014]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [29 July 2014]; Headstone image fromTimaru District Council Cemetery Database online at http://www.timaru.govt.nz/ [29 July 2014]; Timaru Herald, 23 November 1974 (Timaru District Library) [2015]; Baprism Index (Roman Catholic Diocese of Christchurch CD held by South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [10 January 2016]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Tony Rippin (South Canterbury Museum); Liz Shea, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.