| Regimental number | 16217 |
| Place of birth | Sydney New South Wales |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Surveyor |
| Address | Sydney, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 21 |
| Next of kin | Mother, Mrs Mary McKern, 17 Redan Street, Mosman, sydney, New South Wales |
| Previous military service | 17th Infantry |
| Enlistment date | |
| Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
| Rank on enlistment | Sapper |
| Unit name | November 1916 Reinforcements |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 14/42/2 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A29 Suevic on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Sapper |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 1st Field Company Engineers |
| Recommendations (Medals and Awards) |
Military Medal 'Conspicuous bravery and fine example in carrying out rescue work.' (Near Ypres 19 September 1917) Recommendation date: |
| Fate | Died of wounds |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 22 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 7), Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
| Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial | 24 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: James and Mary MCKERN, 17 Redan Street, Mosman, New South Wales. |
| Medals |
Military Medal 'On the 19th September in LEINSTER trench near ZOUAVE WOOD, the enemy subjected the vicinity to heavy and accurate fire. The section was ordered too leave their work and get under cover. As McKERN was on the point of doing so a large shell buried 2 infantry men of the party. Without hesitation he commenced to work and was instrumental in extricating one man alive and oly ceased work when assured that the other man was beyond aid, and notwithstanding the fact that two men who were assisting hem were wounded by subsequent shells. His example on this occasion and also while at work on strong points in POLYGON WOOD on 21st September, was worthy of great commendation.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 31 Date: |