NIELSEN Otto Carl

Captured on the 29th July 1916 Pozieres. POW at Gottingen, Hannover, Germany.

The Chronicle of 22 Oct 1915, p5 reports his send-off from Eudlo.

Chronicle 29 October 1915 p5, Mr AE Nielsen advised that his son Pte OC Nielsen admitted sick to hospital in Bristol.

The Chronicle of 24 March 1916, p7 "Word has been received from Mr Otto Nielsen, who has been ill and in a hospital in England, that he is almost quite well".

The Chronicle 17 May 1918 p2 states that Private Otto Neilsen wrote saying that he is now able to walk a little as he has had a support made that enables him to walk without crutches fairly well.

Otto Carl Nielsen was born in Gympie on 23 October 1896. A farmer by trade, he was the son of Arnold Emil Neilsen of Eudlo. Otto enlisted in Nambour for Service Abroad in the Australian Military Forces on 19 February 1915, aged 18 years. He served (Service no. 464) with the 7th Infantry Brigade, 25th Battalion, 'B' Company and embarked from Brisbane for overseas service aboard the HMAT Aeneas on 29 June 1915. After serving for a brief period at Gallipoli, Otto was sent to England for rehabilitation from fever. In 1916 he was badly wounded in Pozieres, France and was taken prisoner of war by the Germans. He was subsequently taken to Switzerland and then to England in 1918. On 27 September 1918 he returned to Australia and settled in Eudlo, where he married Jeanne Louisa Leney on the 2 December 1922 and joined his brother, Robert J. Nielsen in opening a newsagency business co-jointly with the Post Office. The brothers sold out in 1926 and from 1933 to 1962 Otto held the position of manager of A.C.F & Shirley's Fertilizers Ltd. Depot at Woombye.

Maroochy Shire Honor Roll, Shire Chambers, Bury Street, Nambour

Eudlo Roll of Honour, Eudlo Community Hall, Rosebed Street, Eudlo

Picture Sunshine Coast
Qld BDM