Albert Kenneth HEALY

Regimental number2178
Date of birth1895
Place of birthPercyville, Queensland
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationMiner
AddressCairns, Queensland
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21
Next of kinMother, Mrs Ann Hodgson, Wolfram, Queensland
Enlistment date8 March 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll8 March 1916
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name47th Battalion, 4th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/64/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A42 Boorara on 16 August 1916
Rank from Nominal RollCorporal
Unit from Nominal Roll46th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 8 August 1918
Place of death or woundingVillers-Bretonneux, France
Age at death23
Age at death from cemetery records23
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
141
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Philip and Ann HEALY, Wolfram, Queensland
Medals

Military Medal


Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 185
Date: 27 November 1918

Family/military connectionsBrother: 1665 Lance Corporal Jack Galloway HEALY, 47th Bn, killed in action, 11 April 1917.
Other details

War service: Western Front

Proceeded overseas to France from England, 21 December 1916. Taken on strength, 47th Bn, in the field, 6 February 1917. Admitted sick to hospital, 7 May 1917; rejoined unit, 29 June 1917. Sick to hospital, 22 December 1917. Discharged from hospital and transferred to 46th Bn, with reallotted number 2178A, 25 May 1918.

Killed in action, 8 August 1918.

Medals: Military Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal