Portrait of 9 Private (Pte) Francis George Brennan, 33rd Battalion, of Uralla, NSW. A labourer ...

Portrait of 9 Private (Pte) Francis George Brennan, 33rd Battalion, of Uralla, NSW. A labourer prior to enlistment, he embarked with A Company, 33rd Battalion from Sydney aboard HMAT Marathon on 4 May 1916. Proceeding to France in November 1916, the battalion moved into the trenches of the Western Front for the first time on 27 November. On 12 February 1917, Pte Brennan was in a trench near Armentieres when a shell burst in a bay nearby. Badly wounded in the face, arm and leg, he was evacuated to the No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, where he died of his wounds later the same day, aged 19. He was buried at Bailleul Communal Cemetery, France.