Lawrence Joseph O'Grady

Lawrence Joseph O'Grady Service Number 4839

This is my understanding and research of Grandpa O’Grady. With the only memorabilia of Grandpa being two photos, there is little information of his life.
No photos of him as a baby, of his childhood, of his parents or siblings, no wedding photos and not one thing of his life. I have a bible he gave to his son (my dad, Brian) which he wrote ‘To Brian Love Dad’, but that is all. It is like he never existed, except that because he fought in World War 1, we have these detailed records. What I had been told is that he fought in the war but was a very undisciplined soldier, this seemed to be a bit of an embarrassment in our family (we never related ANZAC day to him at all). I was told he drank too much, was not happy and did not cope well. My dad thought he died when he was 12 (which is incorrect as my dad was in fact 15 years old when he died).
When the WW1 records were released and made public after 100 years in 2018, I got his records and started to discover his war experience. I even travelled to France, hired a war historian to do some research, and for 3 days (along with my husband Andrew) we followed in my grandpa’s footsteps. It was an emotional, intriguing, touching and proud time for me. I was able to visit the exact spots that he was wounded, even found shrapnel (which I bought home with me) in the, now paddock, where he was hit by a shell in the trench, which another soldier died. I visited museums and saw the conditions that he would have been living and fighting in. I walked through replica trenches and read many stories of the horrible things he and his fellow soldiers had to endure. I went to the cemetery’s where many of his mates would be buried. The entire journey was confronting and quite unbelievable to see what he would have done, how he would have been treated, and how horrible it would have been for him. And even though Lawrence was AWL quite a few times, in my mind it was so understandable, as he had to fight in so many big battles, privates were not given any leave, he obviously did not cope mentally, and so he took time out when they were resting and was able to. If he had been a soldier though for any other country, he would have been tried as a deserter and would have been shot. But Australia did not do this practice. Lucky for me they did not, and he somehow, amazingly, survived the war, and influenza (the Spanish flu), so that my life could be.
I am so grateful and proud of the part he played in the world and although he was no war hero, did not cope with the experiences of the war, suffered immensely on return as a war survivor with shell shock and debility, I could not be prouder of him. I am therefore doing a book in honour, appreciation, and memory of my dear grandpa I never got to meet but went through unthinkable things so that I could have the amazing life that I do.