Rupert Clyde MCKEON

MCKEON, Rupert Clyde

Service Numbers: 4854, 4853
Enlisted: 13 October 1915, Inverell, New South Wales
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 56th Infantry Battalion
Born: Darlington, New South Wales, Australia, 25 July 1890
Home Town: Marrickville, Marrickville, New South Wales
Schooling: Marrickville Superior Public School and Marrickville Junior Technical School, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Killed in Action, France, 8 April 1918, aged 27 years
Cemetery: Aubigny British Cemetery
Grave A11,
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Inverell & District Memorial Olympic Pool WW1 Honour Roll, Marrickville Chapel Street Junior Technical School Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

13 Oct 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4854, 4th Infantry Battalion, Inverell, New South Wales
8 Mar 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4853, 4th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Star of England embarkation_ship_number: A15 public_note: ''
8 Mar 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4853, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Star of England, Sydney
20 Apr 1916: Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 56th Infantry Battalion
20 Jul 1916: Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 4854, 56th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix), GSW (left hand)
8 Apr 1918: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4854, 56th Infantry Battalion, German Spring Offensive 1918, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4854 awm_unit: 56th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-04-08

REMEMBERED WITH PRIDE

Our great Uncle RUPERT CLYDE MCKEON answered the call at the age of 25 and on the 13 October 1915 at Inverell enlisted in the AIF. On 10.2.1916 at Liverpool Rupert was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 15th Reinforcement which later became the 56th Battalion
The Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A15 Star of England on 8 March 1916 and disembarked Egypt.
On the 19.6.1916 the Unit Embarked H T Huntsend at Alexandria and on 29.6.1916 the Unit disembarked H T Huntsend at Marseilles to join the British Expeditionary Force.
On the 21.7.1916 Rupert was wounded in action in France suffering a gunshot wound to left hand and was hospitalised for 9 days. It appears that Rupert was admitted to hospital on numerous occasions for various illnesses’ during 1917.
Rupert was granted eight days leave to the United Kingdom on 8.3.1918 and returned to France on the 16.3.1918.
Sadly Rupert was killed in action less than a month later on 8/4/1918 near Villere-Bretonneux France.
Buried at AUBIGNY British Cemetery (Somme France) by Rev A Greville.
A headstone has been erected on Rupert’s Grave which includes the inscription:


“Sunshine passes, Shadows fall
Loving Remembrance
Outlasts all.”
R.I.P

In a copy of a Statement to the Red Cross by A Private F Couter also of the 56th Battalion and sent to Rupert’s eldest sister Amy, Private Coulter described Rupert as being “Tall and fair; the only McKeon in the Company. McKeon was killed instantly with others by shellfire near Villere-Bretonneux, and I helped bury to them, and to make and put up separate crosses over their graves in the 14th Australian Brigade Cemetery at Aubigny, on several days between April 14/20th 1918.”
Rupert was posthumously awarded the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.
Rupert had become engaged to a British girl Elsie Livingstone and planned to bring her home to Australia.
We have a couple of very poignant letters which following Rupert’s death Elsie wrote to Rupert’s sister Elsie Haddock nee McKeon (our grandmother). Elsie Livingstone’s address at the time (1918) was 50 Grosvenor Gardens, Victoria, London.

Rupert’s eldest sister Amy was entitled to accept The Dead Man’s Penny which is a commemorative medallion which was presented to the next-of-kin of the men and women who died during World War One. The Dead Man’s Penny was accompanied by a letter from King George V, stating ‘I join with my grateful people in sending you this memorial of a brave life given for others in the Great War’.
Below is a poem written by Rupert. We do not know who the poem was meant for but it was in our grandmothers treasured possessions.

OUT IN THE LONELY GRAVEYARD
BENEATH THE LONELY SOD,
THERE LIES ONE BROTHER SLEEPING,
RESTING IN PEACE WITH GOD.

OH HOW MY HEART IS ACHING,
WHEN I THINK OF HOW YOU DIED,
TO THINK I COULD NOT SPEAK TO YOU,
BEFORE YOU CLOSED YOUR EYES.

THE DAYS ARE LONG AND LONESOME SINCE
I HAVE BEEN AWAY,
BUT I’LL TRUST IN GOD TO DO RIGHT
THROUGHTOUT MY FUTURE DAYS.

MY SISTERS AND MY BROTHERS
AND MY DEAR OLD MOTHER,TOO,
HAVE DONE THEIR BEST TO TEACH ME,
TO BE HONEST, GOOD AND TRUE.

SO WHEN YOUR THOUGHTS THEY LINGER
TO FRIENDS FAR-FAR AWAY,
WILL YOU THINK AND PLEASE REMEMBER
FOR HOW I LONG FOR YOU THIS DAY.

JUST SEND A WELCOME LETTER,
TO TELL ME HOW YOU ARE,
AND IF A HONEST LIFE WILL LIVE,
JUST SAY ‘THAT YOU’ WILL ME FORGIVE.

AND ALL I SAY TO YOU IS TRUE,
IN THIS HERE VERSE OR TWO TO YOU,
FOR A BETTER FRIEND I NEVER KNEW,
THAN POOR DEAR MOTHER, FRANK AND YOU.

THE END.


Contributed by
Regina Troy and Meglyn Lawther

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Biography contributed by Meglyn Lawther

"...4854 Private Rupert Clyde McKeon, 56th Battalion, of Marrickville, NSW. Pte McKeon, a labourer prior to enlisting on 27 October 1915, embarked on 8 March 1916 with the 15th Reinforcements of the 4th Battalion from Sydney on HMAT Star of England. On 20 April 1916 he was taken on strength of the 56th Battalion. He was killed in action in France on 8 April 1918." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)

Remembered with Honour

Unfortunately I never knew my Great Uncle Rupert, my grandmother's brother, but I feel a strong connection to him from reading war records, letters from his family and friends during his time fighting for his country in WW1. I am grateful that my grandmother Elsie, saved his postcards written either whilst travelling at sea or from the battlefields. It must have been such a comfort to Rupert reading letters from home, what his siblings were up to and just day to day news. Back home Elsie too waited on news from the front. Rupert had been hospitalised for 9 days with gunshot wounds to the left hand and several other occassions spent in a hospital bed.

Whilst on leave in England he met a girl also named Elsie (Livingstone) and they became engaged. After the war Rupert planned to bring her back home to Australia, new beginnings, but sadly this wasn't to be. His sister was expecting a baby, so one could imagine what a worrying time this must have been for her. The sad news that Rupert had been killed in action by shellfire on either the 8th or 9th April 1918, at Villers-Bretonneux, didn't arrive at Elsie's door until a week later. Elsie had given birth to a baby girl, on 9th April 1918, my mother, Laurel, what an awful shock for a new mum.

My grandmother received a beautiful letter from Rupert's Elsie stating how devastated at the loss of her beloved and just reading the letters written between these two strong women, showed how they helped each other cope on such a sad occassion but at the same time a happy event with 'new life' . Each time I read these letters brings tears to my eyes. They never met, but Rupert's Elsie did apparently send a photo of herself, but I have never found it. 

Grandma Elsie received another 2 letters from a mate of Ruperts, they enlisted together, served together, and he wrote "his death was painless and he died as he lived, a brave man"..

He had the opportunity of visiting Ruperts grave and told Elsie, "he lies alongside his mates in a cemetery in a little village called Aubigny, near Amiens. France.." At least we know he is with friends. No one in our family has been fortunate enough to visit his grave, so to help feel that Rupert is here with us on aussie soil, a memorial plaque has been placed beside his ever loving sister, Elsie, at the family gravesite at Woronora Cemetery, NSW.

REST IN PEACE.

Lest we Forget. - Meglyn Lawther (23 Apr 2017)

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