Oscar Thomas Dunn
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Oscar Thomas Dunn
Updated Jun 26, 2025
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Peter O'Brien
2 favorites
04/26/2015
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AncientFaces
382k+ followers 411 favorites
09/21/2022
This photo becomes more poignant the more you know about it. When only 25 years old, private Oscar Thomas Dunn was killed in World War I.
Born in Australia, Oscar (1890 - 1915) was the eldest of his large family and had two brothers who also fought in the War. He was fighting, as they used to say, "for Queen and Country" and was one of the thousands who died at Gallipoli which was later called a "costly failure".
We’ll always remember soldier Oscar Dunn and his sacrifice on his biography.
Born in Australia, Oscar (1890 - 1915) was the eldest of his large family and had two brothers who also fought in the War. He was fighting, as they used to say, "for Queen and Country" and was one of the thousands who died at Gallipoli which was later called a "costly failure".
We’ll always remember soldier Oscar Dunn and his sacrifice on his biography.
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Gallipoli is seen as the rite of passage from colony to nation in both Australia and here in New Zealand. A tragedy, and one that shapes our two countries.
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Very true, James, and over here it is absolutely hammered, to the point where I cannot stand the hype and strident jingoism!
Especially when NZers and Australians fought side by side in Palestine and the Western Front in W1… Greece, Crete, North Africa, Bougainville and New Britain in W2… Korea… Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In fact, the only opposed amphibious landing undertaken by NZ troops since the Dardenelles fiasco was in the Shortland Island group in the Pacific during W2…
Especially when NZers and Australians fought side by side in Palestine and the Western Front in W1… Greece, Crete, North Africa, Bougainville and New Britain in W2… Korea… Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In fact, the only opposed amphibious landing undertaken by NZ troops since the Dardenelles fiasco was in the Shortland Island group in the Pacific during W2…
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My dad was involved in the fighting just south of Shortland Island - he was on the HMNZS Leander during the Battle of Kolombangara.
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Leander was hit during that, wasn’t she?! Torpedoed, from memory…
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John Stokes yup - had to limp back to port with a hole in her bow. Dad was lucky, but some of his crewmates were far less so, sadly.
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Just 25 years old. Still a kid really. What a god awful tragedy for "real" people wars are. The rich and powerful and connected always find ways they and their kids NEVER have to strap on a gun and a pack and head for the front lines knowing full well that may be the end of them. Whenever and wherever there's a war, it is always two distinct events -- one for "them" (meaning they skate and live their lives as though no war exists) and one for all the Great Unwashed who die and who lose limbs and come home alive but greatly damaged in many more ways than one. You wanna stop wars from starting? Just make sure the kids of rich folks and elected politicians go first and die first. You'll find very few wars after that move.
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Ray Rogers Goedenavond hoe gaat het met je ik hoop dat het heel goed met je gaat, ik was net wat pagina's online aan het doorbladeren, dat was toen ik je fantastische profiel tegenkwam en ik kwam echt je opmerkingen tegen en je bent echt de moeite waard om mee te praten.Nou,nee ik beloof dat ik het niet slecht bedoel, ik wil gewoon vrienden zijn dus als je het niet erg vindt stuur me dan een vriendschapsverzoek...kusjes kusjes.Heb een goede dag.
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Ray Rogers You might want to rethink that incorrect statement. Just some of the rich and famous killed in war; Joseph Kennedy, Ernie Pyle, Glenn Miller, Leslie Howard, Theodore Roosevelt III, Quentin Roosevelt, James Joyce, Rudyard Kipling's son, British Prime Minister Harold Asquith's son, Oscar Wilde's son, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, Pat Tillman, Jimmie Stewart's step-son in Vietnam, and the list goes on and on.
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Merrill Henderson Like all readers who can kind of read but don’t comprehend well, you missed the point Merry Merrill.
The point was not that SOME well to do and SOME politician’s kids don’t die in war. Of course that occurs sporadically, in tiny amounts when juxtaposed against the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS who go down to meet Jesus. Any moron knows that.
The point Merry Merrill was pretty obvious. (Jesus, I cannot believe I actually have to explain this. Then again, this IS the Internet…..land of nimrods and morons.)
The obvious point was that in the GRAND TIDE OF HISTORY – up to an including Donald Duck Coward Trump who evaded the military draft for Vietnam on a doctor’s note that said he had “bone spurs” in a foot that (ta-dah!) years later were MIRACULOUSLY “cured” with no surgical intervention – the rich and powerful AS A LARGE BLOCK have (a) always found ways NOT to have to go and fight and die in wars and (b) keep their well to do and usually moron kids from going off to die in wars….i.e., such as finding friendly doctors who write magic notes to draft boards about “bone spurs.”
Who dies in wars? Who gets maimed in wars for life? In HUGE amounts, kids from poor homes. Kids of color from poor homes. Middle class kids with no draft exemptions. Poor kids who’ve been conned into believing it’s THEIR patriotic duty to go off and die in war while some POS like Donald Trump never sees the first day of boot camp, let alone ends up among the first wave of troops into a hot fire zone. Kids with no other options than to join the military, etc etc.
The fact that you didn’t get that shows that (and I’m really sorry to be the one to say this) you’re about a dumb as a day old donut pal. I’ve owned dogs smarter than you.
The point was not that SOME well to do and SOME politician’s kids don’t die in war. Of course that occurs sporadically, in tiny amounts when juxtaposed against the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS who go down to meet Jesus. Any moron knows that.
The point Merry Merrill was pretty obvious. (Jesus, I cannot believe I actually have to explain this. Then again, this IS the Internet…..land of nimrods and morons.)
The obvious point was that in the GRAND TIDE OF HISTORY – up to an including Donald Duck Coward Trump who evaded the military draft for Vietnam on a doctor’s note that said he had “bone spurs” in a foot that (ta-dah!) years later were MIRACULOUSLY “cured” with no surgical intervention – the rich and powerful AS A LARGE BLOCK have (a) always found ways NOT to have to go and fight and die in wars and (b) keep their well to do and usually moron kids from going off to die in wars….i.e., such as finding friendly doctors who write magic notes to draft boards about “bone spurs.”
Who dies in wars? Who gets maimed in wars for life? In HUGE amounts, kids from poor homes. Kids of color from poor homes. Middle class kids with no draft exemptions. Poor kids who’ve been conned into believing it’s THEIR patriotic duty to go off and die in war while some POS like Donald Trump never sees the first day of boot camp, let alone ends up among the first wave of troops into a hot fire zone. Kids with no other options than to join the military, etc etc.
The fact that you didn’t get that shows that (and I’m really sorry to be the one to say this) you’re about a dumb as a day old donut pal. I’ve owned dogs smarter than you.
People tagged in this photo
Oscar Thomas Dunn's father was Thomas Dunn (1859 - 1942) and his mother was Mary Alice Curry (1859 - 1932), born in England. He had siblings Thomas, Albert, Gwendoline Alice, Lily, Frederick, Gwendoline Eliza, Norman, Edmund, plus one more sister whose name is unknown.
Oscar served in the Fifth Light Horse squadron and was the eldest son in the family. Two brothers also served: Norman and Frederick.
Oscar was a farmer, who, in conjunction with a younger brother, selected land at Taabinga, where he had resided up to the time of his enlistment.
Oscar was killed at the battle of Gallipoli, Turkey, at the age of 25. (An estimated 27,000 French, and 115,000 British and dominion troops - Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Newfoundland - were killed or wounded at Gallipoli.)
See his Memorial at Oscar Thomas Dunn: Obituary, and a photo of his gravesite at Private Oscar Thomas Dunn Gravesite.
His headstone is inscribed as follows:
AS HE LIVED SO HE DIED
A MAN RESPECTED BY ALL
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