LEAHY, Owen
| Service Number: | 3430 |
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| Enlisted: | 24 September 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 50th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Mount Gambier, South Australia, 22 February 1894 |
| Home Town: | Balhannah, Adelaide Hills, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Industrial School, Kapunda, South Australia |
| Occupation: | Driver |
| Died: | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 14 April 1966, aged 72 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Fawkner Memorial Park Cemetery, Victoria Cremated remains scattered at cemetery |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 24 Sep 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3430, 50th Infantry Battalion |
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World War 1 Service
| 10 Feb 1917: | Involvement Private, 3430, 50th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Seang Bee embarkation_ship_number: A48 public_note: '' | |
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| 10 Feb 1917: | Embarked Private, 3430, 50th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Seang Bee, Adelaide | |
| 27 Aug 1917: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 3430, 50th Infantry Battalion, embarked England for Melbourne on board HT Pakeha |
Vietnam War Service
| 7 Dec 1917: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 3430, 50th Infantry Battalion, Medically Unfit (Cardiac Irregularity) |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Private Owen Leahy (Service No:3430) enlisted in the AIF on 24 October 1916, and was attached to 50th Infantry Battalion on 10 February 1917 when he embarked with his Unit from Adelaide for Devonport on board HMAT A48 Seeang Bee. Private Leahy was in hospital in England with measles when Cardiac Irregularity was identified. As a result, Private Leahy was Medically Boarded, embarking from England for Melbourne on 27 August 1917 on board HT Pakeha. He was attached to 50th Infantry Battalion at Discharge on 7 December 1917. Private Leahy was youngest of four siblings who served in WWI - Matthew (aka John; Private; Service No:17217); Arthur (Private; Service No:2849); Claude (aka Mick; Private; Service No:2815) - Arthur and Claude were both KiA. Half sibling Hughie (Private; Service No:S20127) and son Norman (Ordinary Seaman; Service No:PM5790) served in WWII.
Owen (aka George) was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia in 1894, youngest of six children of George Francis Lehey (b1859 in Monmouthshire, Wales) and Phoebe Anne Wells (b1864 in Penola, South Australia). George immigrated in 1860, arriving in Port Adelaide with his parents and siblings on board the Schah Jehan. George was a Tailor in 1882 when he and Phoebe married in Mt Gambier, where they settled and raised their family. In the early 1900s Phoebe moved to Perth WA where she died in 1910. The children were raised by relatives/foster carers/industrial school. George remarried in 1913 and had another three children.
Owen was sent to the Industrial School at Kapunda SA in 1904, where he remained until he was eighteen. In 1915, when he enlisted in the AIF, Owen was a Driver at Balhannah (Adelaide Hills) in South Australia, listing his NoK as his friend (Frederick Fitzgerald of Farrell Flat in South Australia). Following his Discharge, Owen (aka George) was a Tailor in Melbourne in 1922 when he married Ruby Myrtle Lohman (b1900 in Melbourne, Victoria). Owen and Ruby settled in Melbourne, where they raised their family and Owen worked as a Tailor/Presser. Owen died in 1966 and Ruby in 1981.