Andrew Edmond Cahalan
Rank:
Private
Serial No:
Serial No. 1679
Regiment:
17th Battalion
Suburb:
Campbelltown
Andrew Edmond Cahalan - Information
Andrew Edmond Cahalan was born in Campbelltown c1874. When war commenced, he was working as a storeman and engine driver. Andrew and his wife, Florence Gertrude, lived in Surrey Hills, where they raised their large family of ten children.
Andrew enlisted at the age of 41 in 1915 at Liverpool. He was then designated to the 17th Battalion and departed Sydney Harbour on the 28th of July 1915 aboard the HMAT Suffolk. Andrew arrived in Egypt, and was shipped from Alexandria to his unit at Gallipoli in September. After the Anzacs evacuated the Peninsula, Andrew was stationed in Egypt, at Cairo, Giza and at Tel-el-Kebir Camps for further training. On the 20th of May 1916, he left Alexandria for France. Just a few days after he arrived, he was admitted to hospital with gonorrhoea. Andrew rejoined his unit on the 16th of August 1916, as they were ploughing towards Mouquet Farm from Pozières during the Somme Offensive. Just nine days later, he was killed in action on the 25th of August. Buried during a very chaotic time, the location of his gravesite was lost. Poor Florence like so many war widows was left alone to raise their children. Andrew's name is recorded on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in France.