Ross KOPKE

KOPKE, Ross

Other Name: Heany, Laurance Rostron - Birth Name
Service Number: 848
Enlisted: 20 August 1914, Melbourne, Victoria
Last Rank: Lieutenant
Last Unit: 5th Infantry Battalion
Born: Vale Park, Victoria, 29 April 1894
Home Town: Ballarat, Central Highlands, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Western Australia, June 1978, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Not yet discovered
Memorials:
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World War 1 Service

20 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 848, Melbourne, Victoria
21 Oct 1914: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 848, 5th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Orvieto embarkation_ship_number: A3 public_note: ''
21 Oct 1914: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 848, 5th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Orvieto, Melbourne
26 Jun 1915: Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 848, 5th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, GSW (leg)
28 Aug 1915: Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 5th Infantry Battalion
28 Jul 1916: Wounded AIF WW1, Corporal, 848, 5th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , GSW left arm
12 Aug 1916: Promoted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 5th Infantry Battalion
17 Apr 1917: Wounded AIF WW1, Sergeant, 848, 5th Infantry Battalion, Accidental - GSW (head, groin, right leg)
29 Sep 1917: Promoted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 5th Infantry Battalion
1 Apr 1918: Promoted AIF WW1, Lieutenant
26 Aug 1918: Wounded AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 5th Infantry Battalion, "The Last Hundred Days", Gassed
28 Aug 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, Lieutenant

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Biography contributed by Kim Denyse

When Laurance Rostron Heany was born on 29 April 1894 in Grenville, Victoria, his father, Arthur, was 36 and his mother, Emma, was 26.

He lost his mother when he was only 2 years old. 

Laurance was raised by his grandparents and known as Ross Kopke. He worked as a 'Boy' in a ship's crew sailing between Australia and New Zealand when he was about 15 years old.

Ross enlisted age only 20 in 1914. He returned from Gallipoli and France as a Lieutenant in the army after multiple GSW and gassings. 

He temporarily lived with his uncle Alf Heany and milked cows in Victoria then he went prospecting in Kalgoorlie WA. 

He died in June  1978 in Western Australia at the age of 84. (unmarried no children)

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