Private Walter Henry Chibnall

04 April 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 1 Comment
To Flanders Fields, 1917, ,

Private Walter Henry Chibnall & son (AWM P05483.001)Private Walter Henry Chibnall & son (AWM P05483.001)

Studio portrait of Private Walter Henry Chibnall, No. 1626 of 10th Light Trench Mortar Battery, with his son Billy. A miner of Beaufort Victoria, Chibnall enlisted on 15 March 1916 and embarked on HMAT Ascanius with the 1st Reinforcements on 27 May 1916. He was transferred to the 10th Light Trench Mortar Battery on 7 August 1916 where he was promoted to Corporal on 15 September 1917. He was killed in action at Passchendaele, Belgium, on 12 October 1917, aged 32, when he and a comrade were hit by a shell while taking shelter in a crater. He is commemorated on The Menin Gate Memorial.

Billy Chibnall enlisted in the second AIF during the next war, and served with the ill-fated the 2/21st Battalion. He was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese at Ambon where he died, aged 30, on 20 February 1942.

View Walter Chibnall’s personal service record online at National Archives of Australia

Private Francis Joseph Mackey

04 April 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. No comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917, ,

Private Francis Joseph Mackey & wife Private Francis Joseph Mackey & wife P05435.001

Wedding portrait of Private Francis Joseph Mackey, No. 3147, of 40th Battalion (AIF), with his bride Cecilia Agnes. A barman of Huonville Tasmania, Mackey enlisted on 30 October 1916 and sailed with the 7th Reinforcements aboard HMAT Seang Bee on 10 February 1917. He was killed in action, aged 37 on 5 October 1917 at Broodseinde and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Belgium.

View Mackey’s personal service record online at National Archives of Australia including correspondence from his wife trying to determine his fate.