Studio portrait of 4179 Private (Pte) Henry Alfred Cressy, 54th Battalion from Boolaroo, NSW. He ...

Studio portrait of 4179 Private (Pte) Henry Alfred Cressy, 54th Battalion from Boolaroo, NSW. He was a 21 year old locomotive driver prior to enlisting on 16 August 1915, the day after his older brother, Edward Brougham Cressy. The two brothers embarked for overseas with the 13th Reinforcements of the 1st Battalion from Sydney on 20 December 1915 aboard HMAT Aeneas. While serving in France with the 54th Battalion, Pte Henry Cressy was killed in action at Fleurbaix on 19/20 July 1916. After the war his grave could not be located and he was commemorated on the VC Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles, France. In 2008 a burial ground was located at Pheasant Wood, France containing the bodies of 250 British and Australian soldiers including Pte Cressy. All of the remains were reburied in the newly created Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. At the time of the official dedication of the new cemetery on 19 July 2010, ninety-six of the Australians, including Pte Cressy, had been identified through a combination of anthropological, archaeological, historical and DNA information. Work is continuing on identifying the other remains relocated from the burial ground and buried in the new cemetery as unknown soldiers. Pte Edward Brougham Cressy returned to Australia.