Year of birth: 1891

Place of birth: St. Peters, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Profession: Wood Machinist

Country: Australia

Force: Australian Imperial Force

Rank: Private

Service number: 4278

Enlistment date: 20/09/1915

Enlistment place: Holsworthy, New South Wales, Australia

Units:  —  Australian Infantry, 2nd Bn.  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 21/09/1917

Place of death: Polygon Wood, Zonnebeke, Belgium

Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Age: 26

British War Medal Medal

Victory Medal Medal

Private Henry Thomas Wilkie served as a Lewis gunner in “D” Company of the Australian Infantry 2nd Battalion, part of the 1st Australian Brigade, of the 1st Australian Division. The Division participated in the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge (20 September - 25 September 1917), a stage in the Third Battle of Ypres. The attack of the Division was carried by the 2nd and 3rd Australian Brigades.
On the 20th of September 1917 the 1st Australian Division attacked through Glencorse Wood and the Nonne Bosschen. It captured all its objectives and consolidated a line in Polygon Wood, just west of the former Racecourse. In the meanwhile 2nd Battalion took up positions in the Nonne Bosschen.
During the following night the 2nd Battalion relieved the 9th and 10th Battalions in Polygon Wood. “D” Company took up positions in the new frontline. The Battalion’s Headquarter was located near Glencorse Wood. Just when the relief commenced the alert German artillery started shelling the Polygon Wood area, heavily interfering the relief.
Private Henry Thomas Wilkie killed in action on the 21st of September 1917. The 26-year old possibly fell, due to German shelling on the new frontline in Polygon Wood. His remains were exhumed after the war and were interred in Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood.

2nd Australian Infantry Battalion, (Australian War Memorial, Campbell (AWM), AWM4 23/19/29). https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1338583 Sources used

Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10269619 Sources used

First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, (National Archives of Australia, Canberra (NAA), B2455, WILKIE H T). https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/NameSearch.aspx. Sources used

McCarthy C., Passchendaele. The Day-by-Day Account, (London, Uniform, 2018), pg. 80-81. Sources used

Taylor F.W. and Cusack T.A. (eds.), Nulli Secundus: A History of the Second Battalion, A.IF. 1914-1919, (Swanbourne, John Burridge Military Antiques, 1992), pg. 259. Sources used

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/480499

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=64c12347-7939-4021-87c1-b47ebf339161

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/7644124

The AIF Project (UNSW Canberra) https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=323470