on 25 September. After six months' probation, he was taken on as a clerk on 8 April 1914. Only 17 at the outbreak of World War I, Sullivan wanted to enlist, but his parents would not give the necessary permission. On 25 May 1915, he was promoted and transferred to a branch at Broken Hill, New South Wales, just over the northeastern border of South Australia, where he was promoted to ledger keeper. The following year he returned to his home state to work at a branch in Maitland commencing on 30 October, where he was promoted to teller. Sullivan played golf and Australian rules football, and was the secretary of the Maitland Patriotic Society, which organised farewells and welcome home events for local men who had enlisted or returned from the war. He turned 20 soon after his arrival in Maitland, and his parents permitted him to enlist, although he did not do so immediately. Military service World War I On 27 April 1918, Sullivan attended a fund-raising parade in Port Pirie for the Returned Soldiers' Appeal. After the parade, the attendees congregated at the town recreation grounds, where a sports carnival was held, and volunteers for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) were encouraged to come forward. Sullivan enlisted that day as a private in the AIF and was allocated as a general reinforcement. He underwent training at Mitcham Camp in Adelaide between 14 May and 4 June, and was then farewelled in Maitland at an event similar to those he had organised for other recruits before their departure. He embarked with about 700 others on the troopship HMAT A74 Marathon in Melbourne on 23 July bound for the United Kingdom. The convoy in which the Marathon travelled sailed via Albany, Western Australia, Durban and Cape Town, South Africa, and Freetown, Sierra Leone. Upon arriving in Tilbury in the UK on 27 September, Sullivan was briefly allocated as a reinforcement to the 10th Battalion before transferring to the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery training camp at Heytesbury, Wiltshire, on 5 October 1918. He was still in training when the Armistice was declared on 11 November 1918, and Sullivan therefore saw no action in World War I. Russia While posted to the camp at Heytesbury, Sullivan contracted gonorrhea and was hospitalised at Bulford Camp between 25 November 1918 and 11 March 1919. Upon discharge from hospital he was transferred to