REILLY, Felix
| Service Number: | 1278 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 March 1915, Enlisted at Liverpool. |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 17th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | St Marys, New South Wales, Australia, 31 July 1889 |
| Home Town: | Granville, Parramatta, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Boilermakers'Assistant |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 3 May 1917, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
Queant Road Cemetery, Buissy, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Granville War Memorial, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 5 Mar 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1278, 17th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Liverpool. | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 May 1915: | Involvement Private, 1278, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Themistocles embarkation_ship_number: A32 public_note: '' | |
| 12 May 1915: | Embarked Private, 1278, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Themistocles, Sydney | |
| 3 May 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 1278, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1278 awm_unit: 17th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-05-03 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Felix REILLY (Service Number 1278) was born on 31st July 1889 at St Marys. He worked as a boilermakers’ helper at Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops from 2nd January 1912. He was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces on 4th March 1915. He enlisted at Liverpool the next day. He described himself as a labourer and gave his mother, Mrs Reilly of Granville, as his next of kin.
He was allotted to the 17th Australian Infantry Battalion. He embarked HMAT ‘Themistocles’ at Sydney on 12th May 1915 and after some further training in Egypt embarked at Alexandria on 16th August to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at Gallipoli. On 27th October 1915 he had a day in hospital on Gallipoli but returned to duty. At the general evacuation of the peninsula in December Reilly at first travelled to Mudros on the Greek island of Lemnos and then to Egypt, where he arrived on 9th January 1916.
On 17th March 1916 he embarked at Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front in France. He passed through Marseilles on 23rd March. In August he was promoted to Lance Corporal and to Temporary Corporal in November. He was promoted to to full Corporal a month later. In January 1917 he was hospitalised in the 6th Australian Field Ambulance, the 45th Casualty Clearing Station and the 51st General Hospital with gonorrhoea. He was discharged to the 2nd Australian Division Base Depot on 21st March and re-joined the 17th Battalion on 21 April 1917.
He was posted missing in action on 3rd May 1917.
Six months later, at a Court of Enquiry held on 23rd November 1917, it was determined that Reilly had been killed in action on the day that he had been posted missing.
Reilly does have a known grave. He is buried in the Queant Road British Cemetery, 1½ miles North East of Queant, and 8¾ miles West North West of Cambrai.
A pension of 30/- per fortnight was paid to his mother, Catherine Reilly, from 18th March 1918.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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