Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
Francis Benedict Healy, 23, was living in Newcastle at the time of enlistment in July 1915 but his mother, his next of kin, lived in Mary Street, Auburn. Private Healy embarked on the Euripidies on 2 November 1915. He must have reached Egypt by 31 December 1915 as he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, and on 14 December 1915 he was admitted to hospital in Cairo with Mumps. Allocated to the 19th Battalion, Healy moved through Marseilles on his way to the Western Front on 25 March 1916.
After surviving all the major Australian actions in the First Battle of the Somme, Healy was killed in action on 14 November 1916 and was posthumously awarded the Military Medal. The citation for his medal reads: His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to award the Military Medal for bravery in the Field to the undermentioned soldier: N°2652 Private Francis Benedict Healy.
In mid-October 1916, Anzac 1 Corps was brought back down into France from its rest in Belgium to renew attacking in the dying days of the First Battle of the Somme. The attacks were made in the locality of the villages of Delville Wood, Flers and Gueudecourt. Eight more Auburn Memorial lost their lives up to Christmas Day 1916 – six out of the eight, including Private Healy, being in the 2nd Australian Division.
Healy was buried ‘one and a half miles NNW of Flers’ but after the war his grave could not be found, therefore his name was inscribed on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, when that memorial was unveiled in 1938.
Healy was the second Healy brother to die in the war. His younger brother, Patrick John Healy, had died four months before, in Durban, South Africa, while on his way to the war on the Kyarra. In 1922 their mother, Bridget Healy, wrote to the base records office in Melbourne claiming her sons’ medals and they were issued to her.
The framed photograph of Private Healy shown below is held by the Cumberland Municipal Library.
Francis Healy is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal
- 1914-20 Victory Medal
- 1914-1915 Star
- Military Medal
