James Galbert Olsen

First Name: 
James
Middle Name: 
Galbert
Last Name: 
Olsen
Alternate Spelling: 
James Jalbert
Date of Birth: 
Friday, September 29, 1899
Mother's Name: 
Mary Olsen (nee Murphy)
Father's Name: 
Walter Olsen
Date Enlisted: 
Thursday, July 19, 1917
Rank at Enlistment: 
Private
Rank at Discharge: 
Private
Unit: 
17th Battalion
Company: 
21st Reinforcement
Service: 
Infantry
Awards: 
British War Medal
Victory Medal
Date of Death: 
Thursday, December 20, 1962
Place of Death: 
Cessnock
Details: 

James Olsen (Service No 7093) was born in Mount Kembla in 1899 to Walter and Mary Olsen.

After the Mount Kembla Mine Disaster of 1902, Walter and Mary moved the family to the Hunter region.

James enlisted on 19 July, 1917. He was 19 years old, single, and working as a miner.

James was assigned to the 17th Battalion, 21st Reinforcement, and embarked with his Unit from Sydney, on HMAT A14 Euripides, on 31st October, 1917. He went on to serve on the Western Front.

While fighting in France on 3rd September, 1918,  James was wounded in action, sustaining a gun shot wound to his right thigh, and admitted to hospital the next day . He was able to return to his unit in November 1918.

James returned to Australia in March 1919, on the 'Plessy', and discharged from the AIF on 26th May, 1919.

In 1921 he married Esma Picton at Cessnock.

James died on 20th December, 1962, at the age of 62, in the Cessnock area.

James brother, Alfred, also served.

Sources: 
NAA: B2455, OLSEN JAMES GALBERT