McKay, Alexander John William (Sapper, b.1891 - d. 1983)

Collection relating to the First World War service of 1068 Sapper Alexander John William McKay, 2nd Australian Division Signals Company, Gallipoli and France, 1915-1919.

Collection consists of three original diaries.

The first diary covers the period June 1915 from departure, arrival on Gallipoli in August, evacuation (malaria) in late October to Malta, and transfer to 2nd Australian General Hospital Cairo in January 1916. McKay rejoins his unit in France in April and remains there until January 1917, where the diary ends.

The second diary begins in mid January 1917 with McKay returning from leave in England to the area around Albert. Throughout the year his unit continues to move north from Bapaume to Hazebrouck and into Belgium. McKay is involved in front line cabling and signaling work. The diary records the fighting, shelling, aerial attacks and the weather. In mid December 1917 he fears that his luck is running out and makes instructions to notify various people should he be killed. The diary ends in February 1918 as he goes on leave to the UK.

The third diary begins in March 1918 and records McKay's participation in the Battle of Hamel. The diary concludes with McKay's return to Australia in May 1919.

The collection includes a 1917 Christmas card from 2nd Division Signalers featuring a signaler on a field telephone, and a despatch rider. The card is signed 'from Alick'. Also included is one letter from the Mayor of Villers-Bretonneux regarding Australian war graves written some time after the Second World War.