Coonamble NSW
1643
45th Battalion
Tooraweenah Kookaburra
RTA 3.7.1919
Private Herbert Keegan was a 26 year old labourer of Coonamble when he and his brother, Hilton, enlisted on January 12, 1916 with the Tooraweenah Kookaburras and marched to Bathurst. The medical examination described Herbert as 5’8” tall, chest 33”-36”, dark complexion, brown eyes, dark hair no distinctive marks and his religion was Roman Catholic. After training in Bathurst for three months, Herbert embarked from Sydney on board the HMAT Sydney on April 14, 1916 with the 45th Battalion. They trained in Egypt and England and arrived in France in August 1916 to face the bleak winter in the Somme. Herbert experienced all the major battles that the 45th Battalion saw in the Western Front. He was granted leave to the United Kingdom in August 1918 and commenced his return to Australia from France in March 1919. He returned on the Port Napier and arrived on July 3, 1919.
Herbert and his brother Hilton, were discharged from the AIF on October 20, 1919. Herbert died on June 28, 1962 aged 73 years and is buried in the Coonabarabran Cemetery.
He was issued the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is commemorated on the Coonabarabran War Memorial.