MCKENNA, Horace James
| Service Number: | 2397 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 27 April 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Field Company Engineers |
| Born: | Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, September 1895 |
| Home Town: | Bendigo, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Gardener |
| Died: | Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, 1987, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 27 Apr 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2397, 7th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Jul 1915: | Involvement Private, 2397, 7th 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, 2397, 7th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Demosthenes, Melbourne | |
| 7 Sep 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2397, 7th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 12 Oct 1915: | Transferred AIF WW1, Sapper, 2nd Field Company Engineers, Gallipoli (as a miner) | |
| 23 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sapper, 2397, 2nd Field Company Engineers, Battle for Pozières | |
| 8 Aug 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sapper, 2397, 2nd Field Company Engineers, Mouquet Farm | |
| 15 Apr 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sapper, 2397, 2nd Field Company Engineers, German Withdrawal to Hindenburg Line and Outpost Villages, Lagnicourt | |
| 4 May 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sapper, 2397, 2nd Field Company Engineers, Bullecourt (Second) | |
| 20 Sep 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sapper, 2397, 2nd Field Company Engineers, Menin Road | |
| 4 Oct 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sapper, 2397, 2nd Field Company Engineers, Broodseinde Ridge | |
| 4 Mar 1918: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 2nd Field Company Engineers | |
| 20 Mar 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 2397, 2nd Field Company Engineers, German Spring Offensive 1918, No details (remained at duty). | |
| 8 Aug 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 2397, 2nd Field Company Engineers, The Battle of Amiens | |
| 21 Jul 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Sapper, 2397, 2nd Field Company Engineers, Reverted to Sapper following GCM 21 December 1918. |
Help us honour Horace James McKenna's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Robert Wight
Horrie sailed on the HMAT A64 Demosthenes as did his cousin Ernie Trigar (2815).
Other cousins from Kangaroo Flat (Bendigo) who enlisted include Frank Leonard Shelton (1555), Thomas Maddams (1996) and George Maddams (3086).
He was attached to the engineers as a miner and arrived at Gallipoli in September 1915. Conditions were difficult and by November he had contracted Enteric Fever (Typhoid) and was dangerously ill and not expected to survive. He did recover and joined the BEF, British Expenditary Force in Alexandria and in March 1916 transferred to France with the 2nd Field Company, Engineers, where he spent the next three years.
He married in 1920, raised a family of seven children and worked for the railways in Bendigo until he retired. He passed away in 1987 aged 92 years. He always wore his Anzac Medal (Simpson and his Donkey) on the lapel of his jacket.
Source: Bendigo Advertiser
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