Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

#2143 KERR Alexander 4th Pioneers and #2144 KERR Walter 4th Pioneers

The stories of Alex and Walter Kerr are so closely intertwined that their memory is best served by relating their details as a combined narrative. The boys were the sons of William and Isabel Kerr who gave their address as Burrum near Maryborough. Alex was one year older than Walter. The brothers attended Howard School and both worked as coal miners on the Burrum Field, perhaps in the same pit.

The brothers travelled to Brisbane to enlist on 26th February 1916. At the time Alex was 23 and Walter 22. They each named one of their parents as next of kin. Walter’s attestation papers record his height as 5’2” and he advised that he had been previously rejected from the Wide Bay Regiment CMF for being under standard. It is more than possible that the recruiter accepted Walter, although he did not meet the required height of 5’4” as he was in all other respects an acceptable recruit. His small stature may have been an advantage in the cramped tunnels of a coal mine. Alex on the other hand was of average height at 5’6”. In any event the recruiters got two healthy young men who were accustomed to hard physical labour.

The boys spent a short time in a depot battalion before being posted as reinforcements for the 4th Pioneer Battalion. Pioneers were a new development for the Army of 1914. Their main role was to provide labour for engineering work such as road making, trench repairs and laying light rail tracks. By necessity, the pioneers worked in the front line areas and were often exposed to enemy fire.

Alex and Walter boarded the “Clan McGillivray” in Brisbane on 1st May 1916. The embarkation roll shows that both boys had allocated 4/- of their 5/- daily pay to bank accounts in Maryborough. The reinforcements landed in Egypt on 13th June and went into camp at Ismalia before re-embarking in Alexandria for the trip to Marseilles in Southern France. There the brothers parted way for a short while as Alex was admitted to a hospital in Marseilles with gonorrhoea which he had no doubt acquired while in Egypt. In total, Alex would spend 75 days in hospital, during which time his pay was stopped.

Walter continued on from France arriving in Southampton, arriving on 21st August. On the same day he reported sick to the Bulford Hospital with a case of VD. The evidence would suggest that the brothers together had availed themselves of the entertainment opportunities in Egypt before sailing.

Alex eventually was able to continue his journey to England where he went into training camps at Fovant and Sutton Veney. Walter in the meantime had crossed the channel after discharge and spent the winter of 1916/17 in the large training and transit camp at Etaples on the French coast. Alex was posted to Etaples as well in January 1917 where the brothers were presumably reunited. On 5th March. Alex and Walter marched out of Etaples to join the 4th Pioneer Battalion.

In the first half of 1917, the British Forces; which included all the Australian Divisions, were assembling in the rear areas behind the lines in the Ypres salient in Belgium. A massive offensive was planned to commence in the first week in June at Messines Ridge and the Pioneer battalions were preparing for some heavy work in consolidating trench lines and establishing communication trenches.

In the monthly casualty reports that are contained in the 4th Pioneers war diary, #2144 Kerr W is listed as being killed by a High Explosive Shell at Messines on 20th August 1917. It is possible that Alex was nearby and helped to bury his younger brother in a temporary grave.

The business of war moved on from Messines and by October Australian Infantry were attempting to assault the village of Passchendaele. Passchendaele is remembered by veterans for the impossible conditions in which the exhausted men were expected to fight. The countryside between Ypres and Passchendaele was low lying and farmers had for centuries been draining the fields using a system of canals which had been obliterated after three years of war. Constant artillery fire which had churned up the ground was compounded by incessant rain which turned the battlefield into a sea of clinging mud in which men, animals and equipment floundered. Platoons and companies became bogged down in mud up to their waists as they moved up to the start line. Artillery which was supposed to provide a covering barrage sank into the mud after firing one shell and had to be dug out again. In this hopeless situation, the 4th Pioneers were working on road repairs on the Zonnebeke Road. The war diary for the 16th October lists #2143 Kerr A as wounded by high explosive shell. Alex was taken to the 17th Casualty Clearing Station near Poperinghe where he was admitted with a badly broken arm and wounds to his leg. Alex Kerr died of his wounds the following day and was buried nearby in the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. The 4th Pioneers suffered over 80 casualties at Passchendaele during October 1917. In spite of the enormous sacrifice by the Australians at Passchendaele, the village remained in enemy hands. Passchendaele proved to be a disaster, an heroic but futile struggle against the elements and the enemy.

At the conclusion of the war, a Graves Registration Unit working across the battlefields at Messines located the temporary grave of Walter Kerr. His remains were exhumed and laid to rest permanently in the Messines Ridge British Cemetery.