Reginald Charles HEALEY

Regimental number3511
Place of birthScarborough, New South Wales
Other NamesHEALEY, Reginald Alfred Charles
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationPainter
Address5 Sydney Road, Manly, New South Wales
Marital statusMarried
Age at embarkation25
Height5' 6"
Weight140 lbs
Next of kinWife, Mrs I Healey, 5 Sydney Road, Manly, New South Wales
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date27 January 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll27 July 1915
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name2nd Battalion, 11th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/19/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 2 November 1915
Regimental number from Nominal Roll3511B
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll54th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 19-20 July 1916
Place of death or woundingFromelles, France
Age at death26
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration details V.C. Corner (Panel No 10), Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles, France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
159
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Son of Henry HEALEY; husband of Irene HEALEY, Osborne Road, Manly Vale. Native of Scarborough, New South Wales
Family/military connectionsBrothers: 98 Sapper Ernest Francis HEALEY, 1st Field Company Engineers, returned to Australia, 15 August 1915; 1382 Pte Henry Percival HEALEY, 16th Bn, died of wounds, 3 May 1915; 2412 Pte Stephen William HEALEY, 19th Bn, returned to Australia, 21 July 1917; Brother-in-law: 3090 Corporal Percy KENNEDY, 3rd Bn, returned to Australia, 19 February 1919.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Joined 2nd Bn, Tel el Kebir, 5 February 1916.

Transferred to 54th Bn, 14 February 1916; joined 54th Bn, Tel el Kebir, 16 February 1916.

Admitted No 14 Field Ambulance, Ferry Post, 25 April 1916 (cyrchia).

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 19 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 29 June 1916.

Killed in action, 19/20 July 1916.

Note, Red Cross File No 1300902: 'No trace Germany[.] Cert. by Capt. Mills 10-10-19.'

Statement, 2950 Pte F. BARRATT, 54th Bn, 5 February 1917: 'I knew Healey well ... I was next to him on the 19th July when he was hit by a machine gun bullet through the head. This was at Fromelles. He was on the parapet of a sap in the German line, which we had dug. We had to retire from the German lines and Healey's body was left behind. I turned his body over after he had been hit; he was dead.'

Second statement, 3157 Pte F.J. RYAN, 54th Bn, 15 March 1917: 'He was killed at Fromelles in the morning of 20th July, being shot through the head. He died about 5 minutes after. The ground was not held. I saw him dead about 8 a.m.'

Third statement, 4378 Pte W.G. LICKIE, 54th Bn (patient, 23rd General Hospital, Etaples), 6 November 1916: 'Healey was killed outright by a bullet in the head at Fromelles. I was close to him. I think he was left in the German lines. We had gone over on the 19th. [We] held the German front line trench all night, and retired in the early morning of the 20th. It was on this morning, about 7.0 (sic) that Healey was killed.'

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, HEALEY Reginald Charles
Red Cross file 1300902