Profile

BREEN, Thomas Joseph
(Service number 66122)

Sacred Heart Basilica memorial plaque, photographed about 2010
Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank

Birth

Date 03/10/1890 Place of Birth Maheno

Enlistment Information

Date 31 July 1917 Age 26 years
Address at Enlistment P.O., Alma, Otago
Occupation Farming
Previous Military Experience 6th Mounted Otago Reserve
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs Ellen BREEN (mother), C/o Post Office, Alma, Otago
Religion Roman Catholic
Medical Information Height 5 feet 11½ inches. Weight 196 lbs. Chest measurement 37-39½ inches. Complexion florid. Eyes brown. Hair brown. Sight - both eyes 6/9. Hearing good. Colour vision normal. Limbs well formed. Full & perfect movement of all joints. Chest well formed. Heart & lungs normal. illnesses - 18 months dislocation right collar bone 18 months ago, ill 7 weeks; broken leg 13 years ago. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Vaccinated (left), Slight defect but not sufficient to cause rejection - slight stiffness right shoulder. acne spots shoulders & back. Fit Class A.

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 34th Reinforcements, Otago Infantry Regiment, D Company
Date 8 February 1918
Transport Ulimaroa
Embarked From Destination Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns Western European
Service Medals 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 17 September 1919 Reason On the termination of period of engagement.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 12 October 1952 Age 62 years
Place of Death Dunedin
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Oamaru Old Cemetery
Memorial Reference Block 12, Plot 1b
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Thomas Breen, the youngest son of James and Ellen (née Slattery) Breen both of whom hailed from Ireland, was born in 1890 at Maheno, North Otago. He was educated privately and at the Redcliffs School in the Waimate district. He was initially rejected for military service on account of the condition of his shoulder. At the time of enlistment Thomas as farming for Lawrence Thyne, who was later to marry his sister. Thomas Joseph Breen married Annie Elizabeth Meehan in 1922. His brother, Daniel, served in World War One.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [20 July 2015]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs [16 July 2015]; school Admission Record (Waimate Branch NZSG) [16 July 2017]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [20 July 2015]; Oamaru Cemetery burial record (Waitaki District Council) [07 September 2017]; Timaru herald, 1 May 1907, Oamaru Mail, 17 April 1909, 29 June 1910, 27 October 1911, 28 May 1912, 22 May 1914, 11, 14 & 31 July 1914, 10 August 1914, 26 July 1918, 18 October 1919, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 26 August 1910, 14 October 1919, North Otago Times, 27 March 1913, 5 March 1914, 7 August 1917, New Zealand Times, 26 July 1918, 6 August 1919, Evening Star, 5 August 1919 (Papers Past) [05 August 2017; 07 September 2017]

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TS

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