Frank FITZGIBBON

Regimental number1040
Date of birth15 April 1881
Place of birthCork, Ireland
ReligionRoman Catholic
OccupationEngineer
AddressDawes Point, Sydney, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation34
Next of kinMother, Mrs M Fitzgibbon, Cropley Place, Cork, Ireland
Enlistment date15 December 1916
Place of enlistmentSydney, New South Wales
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit nameAustralian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, Army Medical Corps
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/112/5
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Melusia on 13 June 1918
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board SS Melusia on 16 September 1917
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Melusia on 6 November 1918
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Melusia on 19 February 1919
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Morinda on 17 March 1915
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Morinda on 11 August 1915
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Morinda on 1 September 1915
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Marsina on 28 September 1917
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Melusia on 2 October 1918
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board SS Sumatra on 10 November 1917
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Meklong on 6 September 1918
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Melusia on 18 December 1918
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Melusia on 22 August 1918
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board SS Makambo on 16 September 1917
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Matunga on 27 July 1917
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board SS Marsina on 14 December 1916
Miscellaneous details (Nominal Roll)Name does not appear on Nominal Roll
Discharge date25 September 1919
Other details

War service: Rabaul

Taken on strength, N&M Forces, 8 January 1917. Departed for Australia on board SS 'Meklong', 10 May 1918; struck off strength of unit.

Returned to Rabaul, 27 September 1918; taken on strength. Appointed Lt, 28 June 1918.

Commenced return to Australia, 5 August 1919; discharged, 22 October 1919.

Medal: British War Medal

He enquired from the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, Hong Kong, 5 July 1923: 'Oblige by giving a little information on the subject of medals. Served in the Rabaul, late German New Guinea, from 1915 to the termination, and wish to know what decoration (if any) beside the 1914-1918 we are entitled to. The affair as you know (who have served in France or on some active front) calls for no particular praise or decorations, and I never bothered to inquire up to the present moment, but the influence of one of the fair sex who will shortly share my lot urges me to inquire into the matter.' He was informed by base Records, 1 August 1923, that 'Rabaul was only a theatre of war from midnight 10-11th September to 21-22nd September 1914', and that as his service fell outside that period, he was entitled only to the British War Medal.

SourcesNAA: B2455, FITZGIBBON Frank