KELEHER, Thomas
| Service Number: | 2487 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 December 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 57th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Balmain, New South Wales, Australia, 1888 |
| Home Town: | Bowral, Wingecarribee, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in action, Belgium, 25 October 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 15 Dec 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2487, 8th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Jul 1915: | Involvement Private, 2487, 8th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Demosthenes embarkation_ship_number: A64 public_note: '' | |
| 16 Jul 1915: | Embarked Private, 2487, 8th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Demosthenes, Melbourne | |
| 22 Mar 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 57th Infantry Battalion | |
| 1 Jun 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 57th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Thomas Keleher was the son of John and Mary Keleher, of Bowral, New South Wales. He was one of four brothers who enlisted and served in WW1. John Keleher, the father, passed away in Bowral during February 1917.
His younger brother, 2696 Pte. James Martin Keleher 3rd Battalion AIF was earlier killed in action at Pozieres on 25 July 1916, aged 18.
Thomas originally enlisted in Townsville, Queensland and left Australia with the 9th Battalion in February 1915. He was sent back home with a disease less than two months later. He must have unloaded in Melbourne because he left Australia again in mid-1915 with the Victorian 8th Battalion. He was then transferred to the 57th Battalion when he arrived in Egypt during the ‘doubling of the AIF’ in early 1916.
Thomas Keleher somehow survived the Battle of Fromelles unscathed. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on 1 June 1917. He was killed in action on 25 October 1917, just after the 57th Battalion had gone into the front line near Broodseinde in Belgium. He has no known grave.
His two brothers survived the war, Joseph Francis Keleher was sent home by General Birdwood for ‘family reasons’ and Michael Keleher was wounded in 1918 and returned to Australia in 1919.