Norman Percy Stuart Trathen first applied to enlist in March 1916, but was rejected as unfit for active service due to the medical condition varicocele. He returned to his employment as a storeman and packer at Ward’s Stove Works in Surry Hills. In July 1916 he reapplied and was accepted into the Citizen’s Forces for Home Service and assigned as Permanent Camp Guard at Holsworthy Internment Camp.
Norman served for one year and 146 days. In early December 1917 he contracted appendicitis, which developed into peritonitis. He died at Holsworthy Camp Hospital on 8 December 1917, leaving behind a widow – Lilly – and a three-month-old daughter, Eileen Margaret.
