Joe Maguire was one of seven children born to James and Ada Maguire of Coonabarabran. He had five brothers and one sister. Another brother, Jim, also served in the First World War. Joe's father, Jim, was a saddler and the family lived in a cottage/shop in John Street, Coonabarabran next to where the present day Shire Chambers are situated.
Joe was educated at St. Lawrence's School Coonabarabran. All the Maguire family were talented singers and entertainers. The Maguire boys can be seen in the photograph taken in 1896 rehearsing for a play. (early Coona can be seen in the background).
Joe enlisted in the army on 8th February 1916. He joined many young men from Coonabarabran such as the six Nelson boys and his best mate Jimmy Varty in going to War. He was put in the 33rd Infantry Battalion from NSW. The Battalion departed Sydney on the "Marathon" on 4th May 1916 as part of the 3rd Division. On 2 February 1916, the Australian government agreed to form a Third Division. The Third Division was formed in Australia in March 1916 and it moved to England to train in July 1916. In December 1916 it moved to France, becoming the last division to do so, taking over part of the "nursery" sector near Armentieres.
The 33rd Battalion became part of the 9th Brigade of General John Monash's 3rd Division and saw some of the heaviest fighting of the war. The 3rd, like the other AIF divisions before it, was sent to the Nursery, south of the Lys River, where the war was still quieter than on other fronts.
The men soon adapted themselves to raids across No-Man's-Land into the German trenches.
Intelligence reports revealed that the German front trenches were now more lightly held and General Haig ordered bigger and deeper raids. One patrol after another aggressively raided the German lines and threw bombs into dugouts. Few German prisoners were taken but the Germans were kept on their side of No-Man's-Land. During the three months from March to May 1917 that the 3rd Division was in the Lys sector it was itself raided 17 times.
The men of the 3rd discovered the horrors of trench warfare. It rained often and the trenches were cold and filled with water and mud. They learned that the ration and rum parties, stretcher-bearers and runners suffered more than soldiers in the front trenches. As it was virtually impossible to move in the mud of the communication trenches, most Australians walked in the open and risked enemy shells. In the dark they stumbled over and over into water-filled shell-holes and slimy bogs in which they lost their boots, puttees and trousers. But they clung to their burdens and hours later arrived at their forward destination, totally exhausted as well as filthy and cold.
One of the casualties of this type of 'training' was Joe Maguire. He was severely wounded in at left arm while fighting near the small village of Neuve-Eglise (or Neuve-Chapelle?). He lost much of the tissue on his upper left arm and was to never again to do heavy physical work.
He was sent home and arrived back in Australia on 26th September 1917. After the war Joe won a ballot for a Soldier Settler Block in the Pilliga Scrub near Kenebri. He married Vera Miller from Kenebri and had two children. An outbreak of Tiger Pear Cactus forced Joe off the farm in the mid 1920s. He built a new house in Charles Street and moved to Coonabarabran. He leased the billiard room and barbers shop next to the Royal Hotel and operated as a SP Bookie. This was illegal, but the police would warn him if he was to be raided. Joe was a 'Retread'. He volunteered again for WW2 and served as a guard at an ammunition depot at St Marys..
