Not Forgotten. 200 Private Harold Reeve BEECHEY, 16 Battalion AIF, World War 1, and 1368 Private Christopher William Reeve BEECHEY, 4 Field Ambulance AIF, World War 1

Again I have decided to include a man not listed on the war memorial, this time Christopher Beechey. Two of the eight sons of Rev. PWT and Amy Beechey of Lincoln, England came to Australia and farmed in Ucarty. Chris Beechey came early in 1910 and both Christopher and later his brother Harold worked for Augustus Hagboom and for James Watson in Ucarty before buying their own block in Ucarty.

Chris, the older brother, joined up first in August 1914, eventually serving in the 4th Field Ambulance. On 30 May 1915 at Gallipoli Chris Beechey was shot in the shoulder by a Turkish sniper and fell into a ravine. The fall damaged his spine and internal organs, and he was paralyzed and had fever. He was evacuated to Alexandria and then to England where he met and married his wife Bertha at Easter 1916. Chris was repatriated to Australia in May 1916, but was not well enough to return to the farm at Ucarty. Bertha followed him. Chris worked at the West Australian Government Railways office at Midland although his health never fully recovered years. He and Bertha raised two daughters.

Christopher Beechey died on 26 September 1968 at Hollywood Repatriation Hospital aged 85 and is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery. His headstone has the rising sun badge, his service number and 4 Field Ambulance.

Harold Reeve Beechey came out to Ucarty in 1913. Harold enlisted on 9 September 1914 in the 16th Battalion. He left Fremantle on the SS Indarra and docked at Melbourne a week later, joining the rest of the 4th Brigade at Broadmeadows camp for further training. Then Ceramic to Egypt, through Albany in a convoy with the Australian Navy submarine AE2 as escort and on to Gallipoli on the Aida Pascha, a captured German ship. Harold was evacuated with dysentery and pneumonia in the middle of May 1915 and was sent to Alexandria. He returned to Gallipoli at the beginning of August but by September was too ill to continue. He was evacuated to hospital in Wales. In March 1916 Harold returned to Egypt and was posted to the newly-formed 48th Battalion.

The 48th Battalion was known as the Joan of Arc Battalion as it was ‘made of all Leanes’, with Captain Ben Leanethe adjutant and his brother Raymond leading the battalion. In Egypt they were defending against the Turks who never arrived. In June 1916 Harold Beechey was in France, and was wounded at Pozières with a piece of shrapnel through his arm and chest on 6 August 1916 while acting as runner, there being no lines of communication, and was evacuated to England again. Before the end of 1916 Harold was back in France where he was promoted to Lance Corporal.

At Bullecourt on 10 April 1917 a surprise attack by the 48th Battalion was called off, and the Germans opened a heavy bombardment. A shell made a direct hit on a party of men close to battalion HQ, killing Major Ben Leane and also Lance Corporal Harold Beechey. Harold Beechey has no known grave and is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.

Although Harold Beechey was farming in Ucarty at the time of his enlistment, he is not listed on the Dowerin War Memorial.