Profile

KEEFFE, Alexander Bruce Smith
(Service number 25/989)

Aliases	Also as KEEFE. Alex.
First Rank	Rifleman	Last Rank	Rifleman

Birth

Date	04/03/1893	Place of Birth	Burke's Pass, Canterbury

Enlistment Information

Date		Age
Address at Enlistment
Occupation	Shepherd
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status
Next of Kin	George James KEEFFE (brother), Kimbell, via Fairlie
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	3rd Battalion, C Company
Date	5 February 1916
Transport	Ulimaroa or Mokoia or Navua
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date		Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Returned to NZ on 15 December 1916 on the hospital ship Maheno, reaching Timaru by the express from Christchurch about a week later. Returned home in January 1917 with a wound in the arm.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	17 July 1971	Age	78 yrs
Place of Death	Timaru
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Geraldine Cemetery
Memorial Reference	Services Section, Row 505, Plot 8
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Son of James and Bridget Mary KEEFFE of Burkes Pass and who both died before the outbreak of war. Alexander was born in Alma Cottage at Burkes Pass -a cob cottage that still stands today. Brother of Edgar Joseph KEEFFE who was killed in action at Gallipoli. Brother George James KEEFFE was next-of-kin for both Alec and Edgar. Farewelled at a social evening with Songs and dances at Fairlie in late December 1915, as he and others were returning to camp. Welcomed home at a large social in the Public Hall in January 1917. Alexander married Catherine Sarah O'CONNOR, a sister of some of the O'Connor men from Fairlie district who served in WWI.

Sources

Cenotaph Database [13 April 2014]; NZ BDM Indexes (DIA) [14 April 2014]; Timaru Herald, 1 January 1916, 14 December 1916, 21 December 1916, 16 January 1917 (Papers Past) [14 April 2014]; TDC headstone image (Geraldine Cemetery) [14 April 2014]; SCRoll web submission from John McBeth, 22 April 2015

External Links

Researched and Written by

Currently Assigned to

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