GEE, Harry Highfield
| Service Number: | 6276 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 1 May 1919 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Birkenhead, England, 1887 |
| Home Town: | Richmond (NSW), Hawkesbury, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 29 January 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Kenthurst & Annangrove War Memorial, Kenthurst and Annangrove In Memoriam Roll of Honor, Kenthurst and Annangrove WW1 Roll of Honor, Norwest Mitchell Remembers Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Sep 1916: | Involvement Private, 6276, 3rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Sep 1916: | Embarked Private, 6276, 3rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney | |
| 1 May 1919: | Enlisted |
Harry's name
Harry Highfield GEE is named with the name of his father (GEE) and the name of his mother HIGHFIELD.
As his father never raised him, he didn't like him and wanted to keep his mother's name HIGHFIELD.
His sister Mary Emily GEE kept the father's name, but Harry really wanted to add Highfield on the records.
Harry loved so much his mother.
Submitted 1 October 2022 by Cathy HELLE
Harry's appearance
Harry was a young man, not very tall, with black hair, white skin, and green eyes.
Event though the records (https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4104312) say blue eyes and dark complexion, it's not completely right...
When he's washed and clean, his skin is clear and white, and his eyes are green-blue.
Submitted 1 October 2022 by Cathy HELLE
Harry came to tell us what happened
Harry came to tell us what happened when he died.
He was in the Wellington quarry (in Arras, in France, 1917) with his battalion.
The Wellington quarry is a place of remembrance of the First World War located in Arras, in the department of Pas-de-Calais (France). This network of underground galleries played a major role in the capture of the German lines and made it possible to spare the lives of many Allied soldiers by having them pass through the basement.
So he was in this quarry, he said he didn't want to be there, nor to be a soldier, he just wanted to stay with her mum. He never new his father as he was a natural born child, and his mother raised him and his sister as she could.
Harry told us he loved animals, and felt so sad, so sad, to be there, as a soldier in this war.
As he was in that quarry, he had to go to pee, so he had to move away a bit from his group, and he was peeing when someone shot him in the back, just like that.
He was shocked, he was frightened, he was disappointed, he never knew who shot him down. That's why he was stuck in this place all this time, until we met him.
Someone of his batallion shot him in the back, and he never had any explanation.
We helped him to get away from this place, to forgive, and to follow the light to be freed.
Submitted 1 October 2022 by Cathy HELLE
Biography contributed
Harry was born as Henry Highfield GEE in England in 1887
His parents were John GEE & Louisa WIVELL who married in England in 1885 (registered in West Derby)
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