The AIF Project

Leonard KEID

Date of birth8 October 1886
Place of birthOrmeau, Queensland
ReligionMethodist
OccupationAccountant
AddressGladstone Road, South Brisbane, Queensland
Marital statusMarried
Age at embarkation29
Height5' 8.25"
Weight140 lbs
Next of kinWife, Mrs Eliza Aroy Keid, Gladstone Road, South Brisbane, Queensland
Enlistment date15 May 1915
Rank on enlistment2nd Lieutenant
Unit name9th Battalion, 10th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/26/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A69 Warilda on 5 October 1915
Rank from Nominal RollLieutenant
Unit from Nominal Roll49th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 3 September 1916
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
148
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Charles George and Mary Elizabeth KEID, Malonga Terrace, Graceville, Brisbane. Native of Brisbane
Family/military connectionsBrothers: 1153 Sergeant Edward Alexander KEID, 9th Bn, died of wounds, 2 November 1917; 61 Pte Harold Guy Walker KEID, 13th Field Ambulance, returned to Australia,15 March 1917; 1154 Pte Henry Charles KEID, 9th Bn, returned to Australia, 10 January 1918; 170 Pte William KEID, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, died of wounds, 23 June 1915; 3809 Sergeant Bennett Walter KEID, 49th Bn, killed in action, 3 September 1916.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Joined 9th Bn, Tel el Kebir, 7 January 1916.

Transferred to 49th Bn, 25 February 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 5 May 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 12 May 1916.

Promoted Lieutenant, 22 May 1916.

To School of Instruction, 2 July 1916; rejoined unit, 9 July 1916.

Reported missing, believed killed, in action, Mouquet Farm, Pozieres, 3 September 1916.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, KEID Leonard

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