COFFEY, Leslie
| Service Number: | 5690 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 March 1916, Fremantle, WA |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1) |
| Born: | Chewton, Victoria, Australia, 1893 |
| Home Town: | Mount Lawley, Vincent, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | St Killians Christian Brothers, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Machinery assembler |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Noreuil, France, 11 April 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Fremantle Fallen Sailors & Soldiers Memorial, Mount Lawley - Inglewood War Memorial , Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5690, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), Fremantle, WA | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Jul 1916: | Involvement Private, 5690, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Seang Bee embarkation_ship_number: A48 public_note: '' | |
| 18 Jul 1916: | Embarked Private, 5690, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), HMAT Seang Bee, Fremantle | |
| 11 Apr 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 5690, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), Bullecourt (First) |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Robert Wight
Born in Chewton, Victoria, Leslie Coffey was employed as a machinery assembler in Perth, Western Australia, when he enlisted in the AIF on 17 March 1916.
After initial training he was posted a private, service number 5690, to the 18th Reinforcements for 16th Battalion. He sailed from Fremantle on 18 July, aboard HMAT A48 Seang Bee.
Coffey arrived at Plymouth, England on 9 September and was posted to the 4th Training Battalion at Codford. He joined A Company of his battalion at Cardonette in France on 22 December.
Very early on the morning of 11 April 1917, as the battalion prepared to move into line to attack Bullecourt and Queant on the Hindenburg Line, Coffey and two companions were sleeping in a dug-out in the railway cutting as Noreuil, when a shell burst buried all three men. They were dug out as soon as possible but all three had suffocated. Coffey was 24 years old. The men were not formally buried as the battalion went into the front line at 3am, and their bodies were not recovered after the war.
All three are commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
Source: AWM
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