O’Keeffe, Daniel
SURNAME
O'Keeffe
NAME
Daniel
PLACE OF BIRTH
Swansea, South Wales
OCCUPATION
Coal miner
PLACE ENLISTMENT
Cairns, QLD
DATE ENLISTMENT
4/11/1916 and 2/07/1917
NEXT OF KIN
(frend) Charles Patching, Cooktown QLD (Solicitor)
LINK TO DOUGLAS SHIRE
D O'Keefe listed on Shire Honour Board
REGIMENT 1
Special units
REGIMENT 2
2nd Tunnelling Company
RANK
Sapper
CAMPAIGN 1
Western Front
DATE DISCHARGED
30/10/1918
OTHER INFORMATION
2nd Tunnelling Coy.
Awarded British War Medal No.29026; Victory Medal No.27713.
See obituaryMorning Bulletin, Saturday 20 August 1949.
STORY OUTLINE
Daniel O'Keeffe recorded his home as being at Jansen (about 18km west from Cooktown on the railway to Laura).
He embarked in Melbourne on 11/05/1917 on HMAT "Shropshire" to Plymouth, England arriving on 19/07/1917.
He was transferred for duty at Rouelles, France on 19/08/1917. Prone to bronchitis even before enlisting, after hospitalisation on the field he was evacuated to Reading War Hospital in England in January 1919.
For the next six months he was admitted to other hospitals in England, declared unfit for service, finally being sent to Hurdcott Camp in Wiltshire before embarking aboard hospital ship HMAT Medic A7 on 24/08/1918 for Australia, arriving on 9/10/1918.
He died at Rockhampton in August 1949 aged 75 years old.
We are not certain that this D'OKeefe is the one listed on the Shire Honour Board.
SERVICE NO
6945
