Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

HEARD Kenneth Harold MB BS FRACP

1911-2000

Kenneth Harold Heard was born, on 1st September 1911, in North Adelaide, SA. He was the son of Harold Heard, a merchant, and Alice, nee Odgers. Heard had two brothers and a sister. He went to school at St Peter’s College, where he won a bursary for chemistry in 1929, and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating MB BS in 1936. Initially, he was a very keen sportsman representing the university in baseball, lacrosse and tennis. However, a bout of tuberculosis in his third year prevented him from participating in future competitive sport. Heard completed his residency at the RAH before accepting an appointment in Mildura, and later moved to Omeo in Victoria. He then did many locums around Australia. He married Marjorie Aena Badenoch, on 20th November 1937, in St Augustine’s Church, Unley, South Australia.

Heard enlisted for service in the AAMC, at the rank of captain on 29th November 1939. He gave his next of kin as his wife Marjorie, and she was living in Naracoorte. Heard had been a member of the CMF and had served as a Corporal in 27th Bn. He left Adelaide, on 7th December 1939, for Melbourne and was marched into Puckapunyal and then embarked for the Middle East on 14th April 1940.  He disembarked at Kantara, on 18th May 1940 and was attached to AAMC of 6 Australian Div.   During his service in the Middle East, he suffered from cheiropompholyx, which causes tiny blisters on the hands, and made scrubbing for surgery frequently impossible preventing him from pursuing his desired career in surgery in the future. He was initially attached to 2/8 Bn but was evacuated to 2/1 CCS with influenza on 25th October 1940 before joining his unit on 22nd November 1940. Heard was on temporary duty as MO with 2/9 Bn from 15th January 1941 before he was allotted for duty as MO to the engineers of 9 Div on 7th March 1941. Hearn was evacuated to 7 AGH with osteitis of the mandible, on 15th October 1941, and returned to his unit on 21st October 1941. He was Mentioned in Despatches for his service during the siege of Tobruk and the battle of El Alamein. Heard left the Middle East for the return to Sydney, Australia, arriving on 27th February 1943. He was transferred from Victorian Line of Communication to Queensland and posted to 17 FdAmb on 22nd April 1943.  He was again admitted to hospital on 17th June 1943 with upper respiratory tract infection. He was promoted major on 23rd August 1943. He left on the Taroona for Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on 6th May 1944, arriving on the 12th, and was attached as 2IC to 102 Australian Convalescent Depot on 29th October 1944. He returned to Australia on 1st October 1944 and posted MO to 103 Australian Convalescent Depot. He was admitted to 115 AGH on 3rd August 1945 suspected of having malaria. He had further medical investigation during the next few months. His appointment to the Army was terminated on 7th November 1945 and was placed on the Reserve of Officers in Victoria on 11th November 1945.

Heard’s only son, Andrew, was born while he was in Papua New Guinea on 9th September 1944. He continued in the Army Reserves eventually being the DDGMS from 1955 to 1959 at the rank of Colonel. His mother died of tuberculosis, and all three of his siblings had the disease. Consequently, he sought to specialise in the disease and joined the Department of Veterans Affairs at Heidelberg. However, this career was financially unrewarding, and he joined a practice where he remained for 36 years. Heard was elected a Member of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, later being promoted to Fellowship.  He was an honorary physician at Prince Henry's Hospital for some years in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a co-author of a paper entitled Hypokalaemia Complicating P. A. S. Therapy for Pulmonary Tuberculosis and was a member of the Australian Medical Association. He suffered from glaucoma and by 1967, and, with a failed surgical intervention, he was severely hampered by poor vision. His wife Marjorie died in 1997, and Kenneth Harold Heard died three years later in 2000.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears III: Medical Practitioners South Australia, who Served in World War 2. 

Swain, Jelly, Verco, Summers. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2019. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD