Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of David and Mary Elizabeth McKEAN, of Caboolture, Queensland.

McKEAN Alexander David  #2364 42nd Battalion / 11th Light Trench Mortar Brigade
 
Alex McKean was born to parents Mary and David McKean at Caboolture. He attended Caboolture State School and like many young men of his generation worked as a labourer.
Alex enlisted on 4th April 1916, soon after his 18th birthday. He presented as a well built young man, 5’9” tall and weighing 140 pounds. After almost six months of training at Enoggera, Alex boarded the “Boonah” in Brisbane for overseas on 21st October as a reinforcement for the 42nd Battalion.
 
Upon arrival in Plymouth on 10th January 1917, Alex marched into camp at Larkhill where he was to spend almost twelve months in a number of training battalions. There is no reason stated in Alex’ file for this posting but it is possible that he was an instructor on the use of the 3” Stokes Mortar. In January 1918, Alex was posted to the 11th Light Trench Mortar Brigade, attached to the 11th Brigade of the AIF.
 
The entire AIF was in rest camps during the first months of 1918 after heavy fighting in the Battle of Passchendaele the year before.
 With the coming of spring in 1918, the German commander Ludendorff took advantage of a numerical superiority of troops to launch a surprise offensive against the British on the Somme. So successful was this offensive that in a few days the Germans had retaken all of the ground surrendered earlier in the war during 1916 and 1917; and were even threatening the vital communication hub of Amiens. In response, Haig ordered the 3rd and 4th Australian Divisions to be rushed south to hold up the German onslaught.
 
Two Brigades from the 3rd Division, including the 11th Brigade, were ordered to take up position astride the old Roman road in the vicinity of Villers Brettonneux. The village of Villers Bretonneux had strategic value as artillery positioned on the heights nearby could shell Amiens. The village needed to be held at all costs.
 
On 21st April 1918 in the vicinity of Villers Brettoneux, a Fokker triplane flown by the German ace Manfred von Richthoven was brought down in the vicinity of the 11th Brigade lines. The pilot was dead when the plane crashed and his body was quickly retrieved, however the plane itself was soon broken up as soldiers ran out and helped themselves to souvenirs. Amongst the personal belongings returned to Alex’s mother after his death were two pieces of canvas from a German aeroplane, perhaps collected by Alex from the famous red triplane!
 
The rapid German advance was halted at the end of April and in July the first of the counteroffensives that would eventually bring the war to an end was executed at Hamel. In August a massive assault across a 15 kilometre front broke through into open countryside, followed by advances against Mont Quentin and Peronne in early September. Throughout this period, Alex and his trench mortar crew followed the battalions of the 11th brigade as they relentlessly pushed the Germans back towards the Hindenburg line.
 
On 29th September, Monash’s Australians were in sight of the formidable defences of the Hindenburg line. Part of the defence was the St Quentin Canal which formed a natural barrier, except in the vicinity of Doingt where the canal passed through a five kilometre tunnel, thus forming a bridge across the canal.
 
The attack began with over 1600 big guns and field artillery firing explosive and mustard gas shells followed by an advance by infantry and tanks. Some time during that day, Alex was taken to the Brigade Field Ambulance where he died of wounds. There are no records of enquiries being made into the circumstances of his death however his body was buried in the Bassee Boulogne Cemetery near Peronne. In 1920 Alex’s remains were reinterred in the Unicorn Cemetery at Vendhuile.
 
The attack on the Hindenburg line at the St Quentin Canal would prove to be the last big battle fought by the Australians. The exhausted and depleted battalions were taken out of the line for prolonged rest while some original Gallipoli veterans were repatriated home. The war ended five weeks later.
 
As well as the pieces of German aeroplane, Mary McKean received a brooch with a lock of hair, a watch and chain, a fountain pen and a number of Australian coins that had holes drilled in them.