Charles MCKINLEY

Charles MCKINLEY Update Details

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MCKINLEY, Charles

Service Number:	2616
Enlisted:	7 October 1916, Place of Enlistment Cairns Queensland.
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	41st Infantry Battalion
Born:	Wollongong South Wales Australia , 1878
Home Town:	Gurrumbah, Tablelands, Queensland
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Miner
Died:	Killed in Action, Belgium, 5 October 1917
Cemetery:	Tyne Cot Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele, Flanders, Belgium, Nine Elms British Cemetery, Poperinghe, Flanders, Belgium
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Brisbane 41st Battalion Roll of Honour, Herberton War Memorial, Padre White Memorial Chapel

World War 1 Service

7 Oct 1916:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2616, 41st Infantry Battalion, Place of Enlistment Cairns Queensland.
17 Nov 1916:	Involvement Private, 2616, 41st Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Kyarra embarkation_ship_number: A55 public_note: ''
17 Nov 1916:	Embarked Private, 2616, 41st Infantry Battalion, HMAT Kyarra, Brisbane

A Letter Home

Letter Home
Dear Mum,
I really miss you. It is starting to get horrible here. Winter has come and gone. Our trenches became swimming pools of mud with the amount of rain we got. They were like quagmires. Every one of us agreed that the war is hopeless. Every time someone dies they seem to ship over a 1000 new privates. I am still a private. At least I’ve got friends in my battalion (41st). There is no decent food and no decent weather. I hope summer brings a change. When I first arrived I was pumped for some fun and some German bashing but now it just seems hopeless. I have been here two and a half years and barely anything has changed since I got here. I hear the stories of those who survived Gallipoli and wish I could have been there. At least the Turks seem nice, sharing food and stuff. The Germans are just ruthless. They have no feeling or emotions. Just killing and winning. I know that we are willing to surrender but the General wants to sign an armistice so that Britain doesn’t get invaded and Germany rules the world. I feel like Germany will never sign an armistice so I may be here for a while if I don’t die first. The trench warfare is horrible but is pleasant compared to our recreation time. The food is crap and I am grateful that we are on rations. The barracks are overcrowded and there is nothing to do but here the gunfire, watch the horrible weather and hear the screams and shouts of the hospital ward just around the corner. I know I have been writing to you a lot recently but it is the only positive thing I look forward to now. I will write to you soon. Please send a reply.
Love Your Son, Private First Class Charles M. McKinley 41st Battalion, Infantry Division, AIF

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