Malcolm “Mac” William Keshan was born on 24 June 1919 in Carlton, Sydney, to parents John Wilson and Bridget (née O’Sullivan) Keshan. His family struggled through the Depression, and Keshan left school at the age of 14 to earn what he could by working in a hotel as a bell boy, then cloak room attendant. Several years later, Keshan got a job as a lift driver at the Grace Building in Sydney. This is where he met his sweetheart, Dorothy Ann Williams. In 1939, Keshan was called up for six weeks of compulsory training in the militia. He was then selected for further training and became a sergeant. On the 26 March 1940, he volunteered to join the Australian Imperial Force for overseas service and was allotted to the 2/4th Infantry Battalion.

Keshan was sent to the Middle East and tasked with training men in the 19th Infantry Training Brigade. In early 1941, he volunteered to re-join the 2/4th Infantry Battalion, and served in North Africa, including the areas of Tobruk, Derna, and Benghazi. He was then sent with his battalion to help defend Greece. While evacuating a position, Keshan was taken as a prisoner of war of the Germans. He was interned in various camps and villages, including Gratkorn, Austria. He also made two unsuccessful attempts to escape. Throughout his service and imprisonment, Malcolm corresponded regularly with Dorothy Williams, and they grew close over those years. In April 1945, Keshan succeeded in escaping from Stalag 383 with two fellow prisoners. They met up with the advancing United States Army forces at Neustadt and were flown to England, where Keshan was for Victory in Europe Day on 8 May 1945.

Malcolm Keshan returned to Australia in June 1945 and was discharged from the Army on 19 July 1945. After the war he went into hairdressing for a short time, and then dry cleaning, eventually owning his own dry cleaning business. Malcolm and Dorothy were married on 5 October 1946, and lived in Bexley, Sydney. They had three sons, two of whom died in their lifetimes. Malcolm William Keshan died on 10 May 2014 at 94 years of age.