HEEGER, Ernest
| Service Number: | 443 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 18 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 30th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia, January 1892 |
| Home Town: | Islington, Newcastle, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Carpenter |
| Died: | 28 October 1964, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, NSW |
| Memorials: | Queanbeyan Public School Great War Roll of Honor, St Mark's HR Islington, Wickham "Citizens of Wickham" Volunteers Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 18 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 443, 30th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 443, 30th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Beltana embarkation_ship_number: A72 public_note: '' | |
| 9 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 443, 30th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Beltana, Sydney | |
| 12 Jul 1917: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 443, 30th Infantry Battalion, MD GSW to left shoulder 19/2/1917 |
Ernest Heeger
Ernest Heeger ----------- Born 1982 Goulburn.
Ernest lived with his parents Charles and Lousia Heeger at 35 Maitland Rd Islington in the Newcastle area. On the 23rd August 1916 his address was changed to Carlingford Rd Epping Sydney after his parents moved.
To confirm the address, I found inside the cover of his brothers Edward's (my grandfather) New Testament the same address dated 12th May 1912.
Ernest Heeger enlisted for service in the Australian Military Forces for services abroad on 18th July 1915.
On his enlistment form he was born in or near the town of Goulburn NSW and was natural born, 23 years and 6 months old and employed as a carpenter, 5 feet 8 1/2 inches tall, 152 lbs., dark complexion, brown hair and blue eyes.
He was assigned to the 5th Division 8th Bde 30th Battalion 'B' Company and issued with service number 443.
Ernest embarked Sydney on 9th November 1915 for service abroad on the vessel HMAT Beltana (Ship No. A72) and disembarked at Suez on 11th December 1915.
The 5th Division commanding officer was Major General James McCay and he was informed on the 13th July 1916 that they would be the first division to go into full scale battle. The 5th Australian and the 61st British divisions began the attack at 6pm on 19th July 1916 at Fromelles. The two inexperienced divisions fighting side by side suffered shocking losses of 5500 casualties with 470 taken prisoners of war in a period of 24 hours.
On the 23rd June 1916 he arrived at Marseillea and on 20th July was Wounded in Action at Fromelles. He was admitted to 2nd Australian General Hospital at Wimereux with gunshot wound to left shoulder, under arm and back with possible fracture of spine with some dead bone present and then transferred out of France to the 5th Northern Gen. Hospital Leicester England.
He sailed from Plymouth on vessel HT Benalla on 13th February 1917 to Melbourne Australia.
On 13th April 1917 he returned to 2MD Sydney for discharged Medically Unfit for service.
He was discharged on 27th July 1917 from 4th AGH at Randwick after being classified with Permanent Incapacity on 12th July 1917.
From 14th February 1918 he received 2 Pounds ($4) per fortnight as his service pension.
There is a photograph of Ernest held by the Queanbeyan Museum, it is also listed on the Data base at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra (AWM P01061-003) called The Queanbeyan Boys from the First World War.
After comparing the two photographs with the prints of Ernest from my Glass Plate Negatives from 1915 (the original in my collection), it appears that the two photographs are the same.
It is interesting to note that Ernest is the only Heeger who ever saw active service for Australia, particularly being from German descent.
Submitted 6 April 2015 by Ron McIntosh
Biography contributed by Evan Evans
From Ron McIntosh
Pte Ernest Heeger, Service number 443, Private, AIF, 30th Battalion, WW1, Fromelles France
Ernest was born in 1892 in Goulburn NSW and at the time of enlistment lived with his parents Charles and Lousia Heeger at 35 Maitland Rd Islington in the Newcastle area of NSW.
On 23rd August 1916 while in the armed service, his service records shows his home address was changed to Carlingford Rd, Epping, Sydney after his parents moved from the Newcastle area.
Ernest Heeger enlisted at Liverpool Sydney for service in the Australian Military Forces for services abroad on 18th July 1915.
On his enlistment form he was born in or near the town of Goulburn NSW and was natural born, 23 years and 6 months old and employed as a carpenter, 5 feet 8 1/2 inches tall, 152 lbs., dark complexion, brown hair and blue eyes.
He was assigned to the 5th Division 8th Bde 30th Battalion 'B' Company and issued with service number 443.
Ernest embarked Sydney on 9th November 1915 for service abroad on the vessel HMAT Beltana (Ship No. A72) and disembarked at Suez on 11th December 1915.
The 5th Division commanding officer was Major General James McCay and he was informed on the 13th July 1916 that they would be the first division to go into full scale battle. The 5th Australian and the 61st British divisions began the attack at 6pm on 19th July 1916 at Fromelles. The two inexperienced divisions fighting side by side suffered shocking losses of 5500 casualties with 470 taken prisoners of war in a period of 24 hours.
On the 23rd June 1916 he arrived at Marseillea and on 20th July was Wounded in Action at Fromelles. He was admitted to 2nd Australian General Hospital at Wimereux with gunshot wound to left shoulder, under arm and back with possible fracture of spine with some dead bone present and then transferred out of France to the 5th Northern Gen. Hospital Leicester England.
He sailed from Plymouth on vessel HT Benalla on 13th February 1917 to Melbourne Australia.
On 13th April 1917 he returned to 2MD Sydney for discharged Medically Unfit for service.
He was discharged on 27th July 1917 from 4th AGH at Randwick after being classified with Permanent Incapacity on 12th July 1917.
From 14th February 1918 he received 2 Pounds ($4) per fortnight as his service pension.
It is interesting to note that Ernest is the only Heeger recorded who ever saw active service for Australia, particularly being from German descent.
There is a photograph of Ernest held by the Queanbeyan Museum, it is also listed on the Data base at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra (AWM P01061-003) called The Queanbeyan Boys from the First World War.
On Flickr.com in Rons Finds collection (war related group of photographs) copies of the original post card photograph can be seen along with other photographs of Ernest in his WW1 uniform reproduced from glass plate negatives taken in 1915.
Ernest is remembered on the Goulburn World War 1 Memorial Tower and Honour Roll, Queanbeyan Public School Roll of Honour Board and the City of Queanbeyan Wall of Remembrance.
Click images to start slideshow.