Francis ‘Frank’ Simon Phelan (SN 2132) born in Ballarat, was a 26 year old warder when he enlisted in Ballarat in June 1916. As a reinforcement for the 39th Infantry Battalion, he embarked aboard the Shropshire on September 25th and sailed to England. In February 1917 he joined his battalion in France. In May he was slightly wounded then in October he was returned to England where he served as an instructor at the 10th Training Battalion then the Southern Command Bombing School. He rejoined his battalion in France in April 1918 and saw out the remainder of the war without major incident. He returned to Australia aboard the Derbyshire, disembarked at Melbourne on April 22nd 1919 and was discharged on May 30th.
He had three brothers, Edmond, James and Patrick, who were all killed while serving with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade.