Wilfred Fitzgerald volunteered for the army in March, 1917, and left New Zealand for England in July. He was with the Otago Infantry Regiment when it took over trenches in the Ypres sector in January, 1918. Apart from the bad weather and bad state of the trenches, the time was not a notable one for the Regiment's Official History.
For Wilfred, it was the end of his life. He was shot in the neck on January 12th and became instantly paraplegic. The quiet time in the trenches and the location of the wound suggests a sniper's bullet. He spent time in a London hospital, on the balance between life and death for four months and was deemed well enough to travel home in the HS Maheno in May. He was one of six "cot cases" on board.
He was admitted to Dunedin Hospital and it was there that he died.
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Military funeral.
The Friends of the late Private WILFRED FITZGERALD are respectfully invited to attend his Funeral, which will leave the Dunedin Hospital (Cumberland street) THIS DAY (SATURDAY), the 23rd inst., at 12.30 o'clock, for the Anderson's Bay Cemetery.
A. S. ARCHER & CO., Military Funeral Directors. -Otago Daily Times, 23/11/1918.
Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin. DCC photo.
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