Informal portrait of 3016 Sergeant (Sgt) Percival James Dunning Beenie with his son, Andrew ...

Informal portrait of 3016 Sergeant (Sgt) Percival James Dunning Beenie with his son, Andrew Kennon Beenie, both in uniform. A saddler prior to enlistment on 10 July 1915, Percival Beenie embarked from Melbourne with the 5th Battalion aboard HMAT Osterley on 29 September 1915 when Andrew was just over two years old. He returned to Australia on 5 March 1919. An excerpt from a newspaper dated 17 April 1919 and attached to the verso of the photograph reads: "Among the crowd of soldiers who were being examined was a tall sergeant of the Light Horse who was accompanied by a miniature replica of himself in the form of a small boy in uniform. A proud father and son went hand in hand through the various stages of the process which was to turn 'Daddy' into a civilian again". During the Second world War, V365589 Andrew Kennar Beenie (born 29 June 1913) served in the 2 Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps as well as being an Industrial Chemist. His younger brother, VX65487 Private Thomas Percival Beenie (born 30 April 1922) survived captivity as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese on the Thai-Burma railway.