Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Roy Berry was a member of a prominent pioneering family from the Sherwood district. His parents, William Kinkead and Annie Maria, lived in Berry Street Sherwood; and there is also a Kinkead Street adjoining Berry Street. There is a heritage listed memorial in the Sherwood cemetery to Robin Edwin Berry who was killed in the Transvaal, South Africa in 1902. It is possible that Robin Berry was Roy’s elder brother.

Roy Berry originally enlisted in Brisbane on 9th October 1915. He gave his age as 27 years and named his mother as his next of kin. Documents in Roy’s file in the National Archives suggest that Roy had been employed as a costing clerk by the Commonwealth Railways in Melbourne. It is not unreasonable to assume that he had taken leave from his employer to travel back to Brisbane to see his parents before enlisting.

Even though Roy had begun the enlistment process as an ordinary soldier, on 3rd March 1916 he applied for an officer’s commission and was accepted as a second lieutenant in the 7th reinforcements of the 25th Battalion. Time was spent in training at Enoggera and six months after being commissioned, Roy embarked on the “Clan McGilvray” in Brisbane and arrived in Plymouth on the 2nd November 1916.

Roy was posted initially to the 7th Training battalion at Rolleston on Salisbury Plain before being posted to France on 23th January 1917. Three days later he was taken on strength by the 25th Battalion.  Roy’s battalion at this time were holding the line at La Sars, close to Flers. The winter of 1916/17 had been bitterly cruel and the men in the trenches were exposed to snow and sleet. Rations when they arrived were often cold or even frozen. The German’s were holding the higher ground and although there was no thought of mounting an attack in those conditions the enemy artillery continued to target the frontline outposts with regular bombardments. During one of these bombardments on 7th February, Roy Berry was killed. He had been with his battalion for 12 days.

The Australian War memorial has on file a number of reports collected by the Red Cross into the circumstances of Roy’s death, which all recounted similar events. The history of the 25th Battalion AIF; “Black over Blue” contains excerpts from a letter written by Private O’Brien five days after the event:

“Roy was in charge of post similar to ours ……things were quiet so he(Roy) went into a trench for a bit of a  rest……..Soon after this Fritz began shelling the post…..One got poor old Roy and a bomber. The man was killed instantly, but Roy lingered for about two hours but never regained consciousness.”

The Red Cross interviews that were conducted many months later confirm O’Brien’s account and also mention that Roy was a popular officer. He was buried just behind the post where he fell and a wooden cross was erected over his grave. Ironically just two weeks after Roy was killed, the men of the 25th woke to discover that the Germans had abandoned their positions and withdrawn several kilometres to the Hindenburg Line.

Roy’s grave remained undisturbed through the remainder of the war. His remains were reinterred in the Adanac Military Cemetery(Canada spelt backwards as most of those interred are Canadians). In due course, Roy’s mother received his personal belongings and kit and a pension of two pounds a fortnight.

Annie also received Roy’s medals, a memorial scroll and commemorative plaque, a copy of his commission and three photographs of his grave.

Roy’s younger brother, Percy Norman Berry also served. He was a member of the 2nd Light Horse and returned to Australia at the end of the war.

Courtesy of Ian Lang

Mango Hill