Brian and Lyn's Anzacs
These are the relatives of Brian and Lyn Walsh (nee O'Toole) who served overseas in World War 1 or 2. It began as our way of commemorating Anzac Day during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Click on a name to view their listing. If any comments, please contact Brian.
World War 1
- George Lloyd (Brian's uncle)
- Jim Anderson (Brian's great uncle)
- John Cecil ("Cec") O'Toole (Lyn's grandfather)
- Eric Geoffrey Meggitt (Lyn's grandfather)
- Aloysius (Lloyd) O'Toole (Lyn's great uncle)
- Austin Stanley O'Toole (Lyn's great uncle)
- Percival Claude O'Toole (Lyn's great uncle)
- Frank Henry Goldsmith (Lyn's great uncle)
- John Clifford Thorne (Lyn's great uncle)
- William Thomas ("Billy") Meggitt (Lyn's great uncle)
- Edward Loxley ("Ted") Meggitt (Lyn's great uncle)
World War 2
- Frank Austin O'Toole (Lyn's father)
- Terence Alexander ("Terry") Walsh (Brian's uncle)
George Aloysius Lloyd (1896-1960)

George Lloyd in 1916.
George Lloyd joined the army in Wagga Wagga in May 1916 at the age of 20, with the consent of his parents Telacon and Catherine Lloyd. His enlistment papers state his occupation as cadet draftsman (engineering) and describe him as being 5 feet 5¾ inches tall, with fair complexion, blue gray eyes, auburn hair and a tattoo on his right arm.
George embarked for overseas service in September 1916 and arrived in Plymouth in November. He served in France in 1917 and 1918, initially as a gunner in the 116th Howitzer Battery and then as a driver.
After the war he returned to Australian on the Port Darwin, disembarking in July 1919. He was discharged in September 1919 and received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal ... service record
George married Marian Armstrong in 1920 and they had four children. He died in Sydney in 1960.
James Alfred Anderson (1889-1915)

Jim Anderson in 1914 or 1915.
James Alfred (Jim) Anderson was born in 1889 at Rupanyup, Victoria, one of 12 children of Alexander Anderson and Margaret Hart.
He enlisted in the 8th Light Horse Regiment at Rupanyup in September 1914 and sailed for Egypt in February 1915. He landed in Gallipoli in May 1915.
Jim Anderson was killed at Gallipoli on 7 August 1915 in the infamous bayonet charge of the 8th Light Horse in the Battle of the Nek during which the regiment was virtually wiped out. According to a first-hand report Jim and his commanding officer were the first two out of the trenches at the start of the battle at 4.30am. Both men were cut down by Turkish machine-guns before they had run more than a few metres.
The Battle of the Nek is regarded as the most senseless and avoidable slaughter of Australian troops in WW1. The final scene of the film 'Gallipoli' is based on the Light Horse charge in this battle.
Jim Anderson was mentioned in the despatches of the Gallipoli Commander-in-Chief, General Ian Hamilton. Jim is buried in Row A, grave 8 of Ari Burnu cemetery, Gallipoli. He was aged 26 ... service record ...
further details
He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
John Cecil ("Cec") O'Toole (1890-1971)

Cec O'Toole.
John Cecil O'Toole was born near Jerilderie, the fifth child of James and Jane O'Toole. He joined the army in Sydney in September 1915 and was posted to the 3rd Brigade Field Artillery before leaving Australia for Egypt in January 1916. In March 1916 he sailed from Egypt for France.
Cec served in the 1st Divisional Ammunition Column on the western front throughout the Somme offensive of 1916, working on and behind the lines to deliver munitions to artillery batteries and troops.
In September 1916 Cec was transferred to a Trench Mortar Brigade and sent to the frontline at Ypres in Belgium where he spent the next two months firing mortar shells at the Germans. In 1917 he fought in the vicinity of Ypres at locations including Poperinge, Ouderdom and Zillebeke.
In November 1917 Cec volunteered to man guns in forward positions and was shot in the chest later that month, somewhere between Ypres and Passendale. He was evacuated to England and admitted to hospital in Bristol before embarking for Australia in June 1918. He was discharged as medically unfit in September 1918. Fortunately the wound did not stop him from working, marrying and raising a family.
He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal ... service record ...
further details
Eric Geoffrey Meggitt (1896-1968)

Eric Meggitt in 1917 or 1918.
Eric Meggitt was born in Mansfield, England, the youngest of 15 children of Joseph and Eliza. He joined the infantry in the British army in 1915 shortly before he turned 19. In November 1915 he was sent to fight in France.
In 1916 he was recommended for officer training, which he undertook in Scotland, receiving his commission as a lieutenant in September 1916 before returning to fight in France. He and three others were recommended for the Military Cross but only three medals arrived in the field and he being the most junior, missed out.
Eric was wounded in action in France and spent five months recovering in English hospitals before returning to France in October 1918. When the war ended the following month he was posted to duty in Cologne, Germany, for 10 months before being discharged in September 1919.
He sailed for Australia in 1920 and married May Belle Thorne in Griffith in 1924. In the late 1940s the family moved to Gosford, NSW.
Eric received the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal ... medal record ...
service record (courtesy of Ann Knight).
Aloysius (Lloyd) O'Toole (1894-1944)

Lloyd O'Toole c1935.
Aloysius Lloyd O'Toole was born in Mandurama NSW in 1894, the seventh child of James and Jane O'Toole. He was known as Lloyd but appears in official records as Aloysius.
Lloyd was the first of the four brothers to join the army. He enlisted in December 1914 and declared he was 22 when he was only 20. He sailed in February 1915 for Egypt and then to the Dardanelles to join the Gallipoli campaign.
Lloyd took part in the initial landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. He received a bullet wound in the thigh when he reached the beach and another bullet wound in the head later that day. On the third day he suffered a compound fracture to his leg, caused by shrapnel from a shell.
Badly wounded, he was evacuated to England where he endured 17 operations on his leg before returning to Australia in March 1916. Lloyd's war officially ended when discharged as medically unfit, but the war inside his head continued as he suffered from PTSD.
In January 1921 while heavily intoxicated he shot his first cousin, Mary Margaret Marshall. He was found guilty of 'wounding with intent to murder' and sentenced to death but his sentence commuted to five years jail. He was released by special licence in January 1925.
Lloyd married Rosa May Carr in 1926 at Willoughby and they had four children but by 1936 he and Rosa were living apart. Lloyd died of pneumonia on 4 June 1944. Remembered with pride, sadness and understanding.
Lloyd received the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal ... service record ...
further details
Austin Stanley O'Toole (1888-1916)

Austin O'Toole.
Austin Stanley O'Toole was born in the Jerilderie district of NSW in 1888, the third child of James and Jane O'Toole. He enlisted in the Australian army in March 1915 and was posted to the 20th Battalion. He left Australia with his Battalion in June, trained in Egypt and landed at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli on 22 August 1915 just as the August offensive was ending. The 20th's role there was purely defensive until its withdrawal from the peninsula on 20 December 1915.
After further training in Egypt, the 20th Battalion went to France. Austin entered the trenches of the western front for the first time in April 1916 near Armentieres, close to the Belgium border. In May 1916 he was fatally wounded during an intense German bombardment at Bridoux Salient. He was admitted to the 26th General Hospital in France on 7 May 1916 and died of his wounds on 12 May 1916. He is buried in France at Etaples military cemetery.
He received the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal ... service record ...
further details
Percival Claude O'Toole (1892-1918)

Percy O'Toole.
Percival Claude O'Toole was born in Mandurama NSW in 1892, the sixth child of James and Jane O'Toole. He enlisted in the army twice and was discharged due to illness each time. He enlisted for the third time in February 1916 and was posted to 36th Battalion. In May 1916 he embarked with his unit and arrived in England in July. In November 1916 Percy arrived in France to serve on the western front just three days after the Somme offensive was closed down for the European winter.
Family information says Percy was gassed in the war, although this is not mentioned in his records. By mid December 1916 he was in hospital in France and in January 1917 he was sent to England where spent the next few months in hospitals.
Percy embarked at Devonport in August 1917 and arrived home in October with tuberculosis in both lungs. He was discharged from the army as medically unfit in April 1918 and passed away in May 1918 at the age of 26.
He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal ... service record ...
further details
Frank Henry Goldsmith (1896-1917)

Frank Goldsmith.
Frank Henry Goldsmith was born in 1896 in Burwood, New South Wales to parents Arthur and Elizabeth. He enlisted in the army in July 1915 at the age of 19.
He disembarked in France in March 1916. Frank was killed in action in October 1917 in Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium at the age of 21, and was buried in Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
He received the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal ... service record
John Clifford Thorne (1888-1980)
John Clifford Thorne was born in Hobart, Tasmania to parents Frederick and Emma. He enlisted in the Australian Army in Sydney in July 1915 and arrived in France in March 1916 where he served as a gunner throughout the war. He returned from France to Australia in March 1919 and married Elsie May Skelly in Sydney in 1921. He died at Griffith in 1980.
He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal ... service record
William Thomas ("Billy") Meggitt (1886-1917)

Billy Meggitt in 1916.
Billy Meggitt was born born in Mansfield, England, one of 15 children of Joseph and Eliza. He enlisted in the Australian Army in Sydney in March 1915 and landed at Gallipoli in November that year where he was promoted to sergeant.
He was promoted to second lieutenant in February 1916 and lieutenant in June 1916, the same month he disembarked in France. In August he was accidentally wounded and repatriated to recover, returning to active service in France in October 1916. As lieutenant, he served as a Company Intelligence Officer.
Billy married Jessie Fleming before returning to France in 1916. He was killed in action in France in February 1917 and is memorialised at Villers-Bretonneux at the Somme.
He received the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal ... service record
Edward Loxley ("Ted") Meggitt (1892-1969)
Ted Meggitt was born born in Mansfield, England, one of 15 children of Joseph and Eliza. On the same day in March 1915 as his brother Billy, Ted enlisted in the Australian Army in Sydney in the Light Horse Brigade. He embarked in July 1915 and served in Egypt and then in France from 1916 to 1918.
He returned to Australia in 1919 and was discharged in August of that year. Ted married Elaine Waters in Sydney in 1922.
Ted received the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal ... service record
World War 2
Frank Austin O'Toole (1920-2008)

Frank O'Toole.
Frank O'Toole was born in Sydney in 1920, the eldest of four children of John Cecil and Kate O'Toole. He enlisted in the AIF in May 1941 and embarked on the Queen Mary, arriving in Egypt where he served as a bombardier in the 2/3 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment on "ack-ack" Bofors guns in the Middle East from June 1941 to March 1942.
His unit was recalled to Australia, where he served for a while at Townsville, guarding Garbut Airfield. He was then posted with his unit to New Guinea from June 1942 to January 1943 and again from March 1943 to May 1944, serving at Port Moresby, Milne Bay and Lae.
Frank returned home on leave, suffering from malaria, before again embarking with his unit to serve in the south west Pacific, including Borneo, from April to December 1945.
Frank was awarded the 1939/45 Star, the Pacific Star, Defence Medal, War Medal and the Australian Service Medal. He married Gwen Meggitt in 1952 and they had two children.
His service record has not yet been digitised.
Terence Alexander (Terry) Walsh (1914-1991)

Terry Walsh serving overseas.
Terry Walsh was born at Hastings, New Zealand in 1914, the fourth child of Patrick and Jane Ann (Jean) Walsh.
He enlisted in the Australian Citizens Military Forces in February 1942 and then in the AIF in March 1943. He served as a motor mechanic in New Guinea from July 1943 to May 1944 and in Borneo at Balikpapan from June 1945 to January 1946. He was discharged in March 1946... service record
He married Cecile Ryan and they had two children. He later married Sadie McKenzie.