Private Poul Daniel (Dan) Christensen

Service number 6485
Birth Date 1890
Birth Place Australia: Queensland
Death Date 1982
Death Place Australia: Queensland
Final Rank Private
Place Queensland
Conflict/Operation First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Paul (Poul) Daniel Christensen, known as Dan, was born at Tiaro, Queensland on 6 July 1890, the second son of Poul and Ernestine Juliane Frederike née Schwarz. He was 25 years old when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 9 March 1916. At the time of enlistment, he was working as a cream tester in Bundaberg. Between enlisting and the date of embarkation, he married Margaret Elizabeth Paterson on 28 August 1916.

With his older brother Andrew (Andraes), who had enlisted in June 1916, he embarked at Brisbane with the 21st reinforcements of the 15th Battalion aboard HMAT Boonah on 21 October 1916. His sister Victoria was one of the Australian staff nurses in England and his youngest brother, Victor, also served in the AIF with the 42nd battalion. Victor Christensen was killed in Belgium on 31 July 1917.

Christensen was a stretcher bearer and played the E Flat tuba in the 15th Battalion Band. He was involved in the attack on the Hindenburg Line on 11 April 1917, and suffered from trench fever for the latter part of 1917. Christensen returned to Australia aboard Beltana on 19 July 1919. After the war, he returned to the Wondai area of Queensland. By 1925, he was living in Maryborough, Queensland. He was working as a shopkeeper in Maryborough in 1932.

Christensen was actively involved in civic affairs both before and after the war. After returning to Australia, his civic activities notably increased as a member of the Returned Soldiers League, Memorial Bandstand Committee and Repatriation Committee among several other organisations. After relocating to Maryborough, Christensen played a prominent role in local government as a long-standing member of the Maryborough Hospital Board, and as an Alderman with the Maryborough City Council, acting as Mayor for a short period in 1939. It is not known whether he had any children.

Paul Daniel Christensen died at Sandgate, Brisbane, on 17 July 1982.

Rolls

Timeline

Date of birth 1890
Date of embarkation 21 October 1916
Date of death 1982