Barry Martin Keeley

Barry Martin Keeley

Personal Information
Date of Birth	3 Mar 1905
Place of Birth	Katanning, Western Australia
Death	16 Sep 1979, age 74
Place of Death	Williams, Western Australia
Age at Enlistment	34 years, 9 months
Description	5'6" (1.68m) tall ; 126lbs 57.153 kg ; dark complexion ; blue eyes ; black hair
Occupation	Postal clerk
Religion	Roman Catholic
Address	Third road, Armadale, Western Australia
Next of Kin	Wife , Mrs. Rachel Keeley
Military Information
Reg Number	24755R & WX16130
Date of Enlistment	27 Jan 1942
Rank	Signaller
Unit/Formation	13th Australian Infantry Brigade Signals Section
Military Movement
1st Departure from Australia
Journey Dates	15 Sep 1944 ‒ 29 Sep 1944
Transport Details	HMT Katoomba Dawin to Lae, New Guinea
Transfers
Journey Dates	1 Dec 1944 ‒ 2 Dec 1944
Transport Details	J Stirling Morton Lae, new Guinea to Jacquinot Bay, New Britain
Post War Details
Fate	Returned to Australia

Pre War

In the Northam area in 1928 Barry married Rachel Mortimer. Sons Barry & Bill. Electoral Roll entries: 1931 Middleton road Albany, postal assistant; 1936 - 1937 Jull street Armadale Postal assistant; 1943 Third road, Armadale. At the time of his enlistment Barry was working at the Armadale Post Office.

War Service

Barry's initial enlistment was with the CMF on 26 Jan 1939 when he was posted to the 13th Signals, transferring on 1 Jan 1940 to the Western Command Signals. Barry was calle dup for full time service on 29 Jan 1942 and he enliosted int he 2nd AIF at that time. He was sent for generaql reinforcement training before being then allocated to the Signals training unit on 28 Apr 1942. With his Signals training completed on 13 Aug 1942 Barry, on 18 Sep 1942 was posted to the 35th Australian infantry Training Battalion. On 24 Sep 1942 he was classified as a Trade Goup 2 Signals and on 12 Dec 1942 he was briefly posted to the 16th Australian Infantry Battalion (Cameron Highlanders Regiment) before transfering to the Line Section attached to the 13th Australian Infantry Brigade.

On 15 Feb 1943 Barry and his unit entrained for the Northern Territory, via Adelaide which they reached on 22 Feb 1943, before departing Adelaide on 1 Mar 1943, and detrained in Darwin on 11 Mar 1943. On 21 Aug 1943 Barry was formally transferred to the 13th Australian Infantry Brigade Signals Section. On 22 Jun 1944 Barry was again briefly detached to the 16th Infantry Battalion returning to his unit on 1 Jul 1944 . On 15 Sep 1944 Barry embarked on HMT Katoomba in Darwin for Lae in New Guinea disembarking there on 29 Sep 1944, and then travelling on USAT J Stirling Morton from Lae (11:30pm 30 Nov 1944) to Jacquinot Bay on the south coast of New Britain, disembarking there on 2 Dec 1944.

New Guinea / New Britain 15 Sep 1944 - 9 May 1945 new Britain 14 Jul 1945 - 16 Dec 1945 Discharged 23 Jan 1946

Post War

Barry and Rachel were divorced on 7 May 1948, grounds being 5 years separation.

Electoral Roll entries: 1949 His Majesties Hotel, Fremantle, civil servant; 1949 Cowaramup, linesman ; 1954 Rocky Gully, postal officer; 1963 King River, linesman; 1972 - 1977 at 25 Homer street Narrogin, linesman. In 1977 Karen Therese, Michelle Catherine, and Myra Ada are also sharing the 25 Homer street address. In 1972 it was Myra Ada and William Mortimer.