Private Thomas George Fitzsimmons, son of Mr G. Fitzsimmons, of Ardgowan, died in the Dunedin Hospital at 5.30 this morning. He left New Zealand with the Thirteenth Reinforcements on May 27th, 1916, and after seeing some service in France, returned home invalided in May of this year, suffering from a shrapnel wound in the hip. He was operated upon in the Dunedin Hospital on Tuesday, where he succumbed as already stated. The wound, (his second) which sent him back was received on the Somme, and he was twice unsuccessfully operated on for the extraction of the shrapnel before being invalided to the Dominion. Two brothers are at the front. Prior to enlisting, Private Fitzsimmons was engaged in farming pursuits at home. -Oamaru Mail, 13/7/1918.
Thomas Fitzsimons enlisted in the Otago Infantry Regiment in January, 1916, and was admitted to hospital during the Somme offensive suffering from shell shock. His second wound was in the right buttock - possibly reported as the hip out of courtesy. It was suffered during the Battle of Messines.
His Army record shows a subsequent attempt to remove the shrapnel in January, 1918 - "FB" presumably means "Fragment, Bullet." "FB palpable deeply in buttock. Pain in thigh on marching...One FB broke up under forceps & could not be removed."
Oamaru Cemetery.
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