Public Contributions:

Michael Flynn was born in Lassabee, Co. Kerry, Ireland, the son of Maurice & Catherine Flynn. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1909, joining two of his sisters and a brother in Wellington. He enlis...ted in the NZEF in June 1916, and following 3 months basic training he departed for England on 16 October 1916, arriving in Plymouth, Devonport on 29 December 1916. After further training at Sling Camp in Wiltshire he was posted to Etaples, France in February 1917. The day after his company, (14th Coy, 2nd Battalion, Otago Regiment) was involved in the liberation of Le Quesnoy, (November 4, 1918), they were ordered to push further east, taking control of the Mormal Forest. Initially, they did not encounter much in the way of opposition, but came under sustained machine gun and rifle fire when they attempted to take control of the southern Forrester's Hut. In the course of this action, Michael was killed in action along with 2 officers and 8 other ranks, (all Privates). This incident was one of the last times New Zealand troops were engaged in combat on the Western Front. Read More

Submitted by: Kevin Quirke

Relationship to casualty: Next of kin was my Grandmother, so would have been Great Uncle?

A few years ago I uploaded the photos of Michael Flynn and his plaque and provided a brief bio of him. At the time, there was some confusion as to his date of birth. His medical report for enlistment... purposes gave one (clearly incorrect) date of 1889, the Irish census return of 1901 gave his age as 14 (1886), and his christening record gave a date of Oct 1879, thus their being 10 years between the 3 dates. I've recently solved this mystery and have now found the correct date of birth, namely 12 December 1886. So, if you could add in the correct DOB, that would be appreciated. Where the discrepancy arose, at least as far as the official birth certificates is concerned, was that his parents had an earlier son also called Michael, who died in infancy from measles in 1880 aged under 1. Apparently, they gave their second son the same name as the earlier son who had died. Hence the confusion. Read More