20476
FORRESTER, Kenneth Lyall
| Service Number: | 4776 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 2 October 1915, at Adelaide |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, 14 December 1900 |
| Home Town: | Two Wells, Mallala, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Somerton Park, South Australia, Australia, 6 July 1975, aged 74 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia Cremated |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Oct 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4776, 10th Infantry Battalion, at Adelaide | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Mar 1916: | Involvement Private, 4776, 10th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: RMS Mongolia embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 9 Mar 1916: | Embarked Private, 4776, 10th Infantry Battalion, RMS Mongolia, Adelaide | |
| 22 Aug 1916: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 4776, 50th Infantry Battalion, Mouquet Farm, Shell shock | |
| 3 May 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4776, 10th Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (Second) | |
| 19 Mar 1918: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 4776, 10th Infantry Battalion, Discharged as underage |
Help us honour Kenneth Lyall Forrester's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by St Ignatius' College
Kenneth Lyall Forrester was born on the 14th of December 1900, according to a statutory declaration included in his service record. He was born in Adelaide, South Australia. Before he signed up for war he worked as a laborer. He was unmarried with blue eyes and light brown hair. He 5ft and 9½ inches tall and raised Presbyterian. On 2 October 1915, he signed up to join the army and fight for his country. However, he lied about his age to be able to get in. He also lied by saying his parents were both dead. This was something he was willing to do even though he was underage. This act shows that he was willing to go fight for his country. During the war, you were only allowed to go fight if you were 18 or older. Forrester was 14 when he signed up to go fight.
Forrester however managed to lie himself into the war to display his bravery. He was then sent off to Mitcham army camp where he trained with other soldiers how to field patrol, bomb-throwing and trench digging, among other basic skills solders would have needed to be able to fight in a war.
During the war, his purpose would be a signaller. As a signaller, he was required to read Morse code along with map reading. This was his role in the war. After his training, he was assigned to be in the 10th Battalion when he would go to war. He was shipped to Egypt and there re-assigned to the 50th Battalion. In July 1916 he travelled to France and joined up with the 50th Battalion. Just a few weeks later he was in the front line fighting around Mouquet Farm. Here he suffered shell shock, and was hospitalised. He was still only fifteen years old. A month later he was out of hospital and sent to a training depot.
In December 1916 he was hospitalised again, this time with influenza. The winter of 1916-17 was one of the coldest Europe had experienced for decades. Kenneth recovered from this influenza and another bout of sickness in March, and in April was transferred to the 10th Battalion - despite the military bureaucracy knowing (according to a file note dated 19 October 1916) his true date of birth. This was in time to fight at Bullecourt in April and May, which he survived unscathed. In August 1917 he was again sick, and this time was sent to hospital in England. In September 1917, after recovering from his illness, he was sent to a depot in Weymouth. On 10 January 1918 he was put on a ship to return to Australia as an underage soldier. Despite already having been overseas for nearly two years, he was not yet eighteen.
After returning to Australia, Kenneth was discharged from the AIF on 19 March 1918. His postwar life was, if anything, even more eventful. After a period working in a pub at Port Pirie, he lived in France, England and the US as a boxer and professional sparring partner, as a vaudeville actor, and as a stuntman and minor actor in films.
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