A century on from the end of World War I we acknowledge their service …
Lest we forget.
Driver Edward Joseph Fahey
Born: 1894 Pakenham. Died: 27 May 1955 Hobart.
Enlisted: 4 May 1915 aged 21.
Served: Egypt, Gallipoli and Western Front.
The second Fahey brother to enlist was Edward, who like his older brother William had attended St Patrick’s School as a child. When he enlisted Edward was working as a grocer in Melbourne.
He embarked from Australia in July 1915 and served at Gallipoli, where he contracted influenza in October. Edward’s condition developed into pneumonia and he was hospitalised.
In January 1916 Edward was transferred back to Egypt and contracted malaria after which he was sent to England.
In September 1916 he joined the 21st Battalion in France as the Battle of the Somme was raging on the Western Front.
In December 1916, Edward was invalided to England suffering from trench feet and he spent much of 1917 in England. On 20 April 1918, Edward was wounded in action and evacuated to England again.
By the time he rejoined his unit in France, the Armistice had already been signed.
Edward returned to Australia in May 1919 and settled back in Melbourne, and worked as a lift attendant, living at Abbotsford with his wife Daisy whom he had married in 1922.
This is an extract from Patrick Ferry’s book A Century After The Guns Fell Silent – Remembering the Pakenham District’s WWI Diggers 1914-18.
For more details on this and other profiles in the book, head to the website www.pakenhamww1.com
