VILES, Keith McLean
| Service Number: | 3104 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 47th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Croydon, Queensland, Australia, 1898 |
| Home Town: | Croydon, Croydon, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Croydon State School, Croydon, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 7 June 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Messines Ridge British Cemetery Plot VI, Row C, Grave No. 38, Messines Ridge British Cemetery, Messines, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Croydon War Memorial, Townsville Cenotaph |
World War 1 Service
| 13 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3104, 15th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Oct 1915: | Involvement Private, 3104, 15th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Warilda embarkation_ship_number: A69 public_note: '' | |
| 5 Oct 1915: | Embarked Private, 3104, 15th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Warilda, Brisbane | |
| 7 Jun 1917: | Involvement Private, 3104, 47th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3104 awm_unit: 47th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1917-06-07 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Private Keith McLean Viles 47th Battalion AIF was killed in action, 7 June 1917. He was only 19 years and four months when he died. He had been wounded at Mouquet Farm during 1916 and the general consensus by eye witnesses is that he killed by shell fire at Messines while acting as a battalion runner. His older brother 5205 Corporal Francis Watts Viles also of the 47th Battalion was killed the next day, 8 June, 1917, age 26. The brothers were raised in Croydon, a remote old gold mining town in far north Queensland and their parents, Douglas Passmore Viles and Minnie Viles, lived in Townsville Queensland. Since then, Viles Street in Townsville was named in their memory.
Their parents wrote to the AIF many times, regarding their “darling boys” and Minnie Viles wrote the following during August 1918, “….it is so dreadful that I have never received anything belonging to my darling sons who were both killed at Messines June 7th, 1917. Other mothers have received things belonging to their boys who were killed after mine. Surely I could get their caps or anything that they had worn. Do you know I never even saw my dear ones in their uniforms, they both had wristlet pocket watches, fountain pens and my eldest boy Frank, when he wrote in May said what a big collection of things he had to bring home. You will think I am mad worrying you like this but oh no I am not mad, but would just love to have something of my dear boys.”
The AIF wrote back and informed her that the soldiers’ caps, being part of Military equipment, could not be returned.
The remains of Keith McLean Viles were discovered in mid-1920 and were buried in the Messines Ridge British Cemetery in Belgium, perhaps a small comfort to the parents.
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