10/337 Corporal Sylvester Percival (Percy) Enright – Bruthen Killed in Action 8 August 1915

….. mates said they can’t kill Enright

Percy was the youngest son of Michael and Jane Enright and was born at Toongabbie before the family moved to Bruthen where he worked for Mitchell and Co., carriers. He decided to try his luck in New Zealand where he enlisted on 14 August 1914 with the Wellington Infantry. Percy survived the Krithia campaign and he was promoted to Corporal on 14 May after he volunteered to escort a Captain through the attack. In reading his letters it is no wonder his mates were saying they can’t kill Enright. Prior to this he had a bullet through his rifle, a bullet through the left side of the chin, that didn’t break but was very sore for a day or two  and then survived with flesh wounds when a bomb was lobbed into his trench. When he had been on the firing line for eleven weeks he said I have got quite reconciled to it now and commented on how the country resembles Jemmy’s Point, pretty steep too. The New Zealanders attacked at Chunuk Bair at 3.00am on 8 August and it was during this action that Percy was killed in action. He was 24 years old. Two brothers had served in the Boer War and three siblings served in WW1, returning home. He is remembered at the Chunuk Bair memorial at Gallipoli, the Toongabbie School Honour roll and Bruthen war memorial. 

Photograph of Percy Enright courtesy of Jan Enright, Qld, member of the East Gippsland Family History Group.