SOLDIER OF 65

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 114, 16 May 1931, Page 8

SOLDIER OF 65

WELLINGTON MAN’S DEATH A STORY OF THE GREAT WAR [ Per Press Association. ] WELLINGTON, May 15. The death has occurred of Mr Patrick Mulcahy, aged 86, who served with the Rifle Brigade in the Great War. Mr Mulcahy was an old resident of Wellington and was l for about 20 years an employee of the City Couu cii. He was a gardener at the Botanical Gardens. When the war broke our his two sons went to the front with the early reinforcements and were killed. At this time Mr Mulcahy was employed at the Town Hall. One day he said to a friend, “I would like to go to the front and find the German who killed my sons.” “You are over age and have no chance of being accepted,” replied his friend. One morning Mr Mulcahy asked to leave bis, work for a while. He came back with a certificate of “Fit A.” He joined up as “Rifleman Patrick Mulcahy,” and left for France with the tenth reinforcements. He was then 65 years of age, but being very lit, he passed as 45. At the end of the war Mr Mulcahy returned to New Zealand and resumed his Jd duties. He subsequently retired ou small pension allowance.

He leaves a widow and grown-up family. Mrs Mulcahy went to England shortly after her husband, and did useful war service in the Motherland.