Andrew Anderson Wishart was born in Mokoreta, near the small rural town of Wyndham, New Zealand, on 9 July 1895. He was the son of George and Agnes Wishart and had three older sisters and four younger brothers.

His father was an engine driver from Kennoway and left Scotland in 1877 and settled in New Zealand's Southland region, where he took up farming.

By 1915, Andrew had found work as a sawmiller at North Arm, Stewart Island for McCallum & Co., who were timber and iron merchants.

He enlisted in Invercargill on 12 November and was posted a week later to Trentham Camp for training, where he joined 'D' Coy of the 10th Reinforcements.

On 17 February 1916, Andrew was transferred to 'D' Coy of the 11th Reinforcements and embarked from Wellington for Europe on 1 April. After a month at sea, the transport ship Andrew was sailing on arrived in Suez, where he transferred onto another vessel and continued to Marseilles (via Alexandria).

At the end of May, he reached the New Zealand Infantry Base Depot in Étaples and was assigned to the 1st Battalion Otago Regiment, which he eventually joined in the Armentières sector on 28 July.

The battalion formed part of the New Zealand Division and moved in early September to the Somme region, where they first went into action on the 16th at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.

On 27 September, the battalion was tasked with taking the Gird trench system - a double line of trenches protecting the village of Guedecourt. In addition to thick barbed wire, these were heavily defended by enemy machine guns.

During the assault, the battalion was literally 'cut to pieces', and reduced to a strength of 113 men by the end of the next day.

Andrew did not escape the fury of the machine guns and was wounded in his right thigh. After a night laying out in No Man's Land, he made it off the battlefield the next day and was taken to 36 Casualty Clearing Station before being transported to the 8th General Hospital in Rouen.

On 2 October, Andrew left France for England and was admitted to the No.1 New Zealand General Hospital in Brockenhurst until being transferred to the New Zealand Base Depot in Codford on 6 December.

At the end of January 1917, Andrew returned to the hospital (in Codford), suffering from slight bronchitis; however, his health was about to take a dramatic turn.

After spending several months in his sick bed, Andrew was eventually diagnosed with atrophy of the liver. By June, he was dangerously ill and died on 10 July.

Andrew was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Codford. He was the brother of 15273 Pte. James Wishart, who was killed at the Somme on 15 November 1916.