O'Keefe or Keefe
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Page Image AWD0003o8b mentions gunner O'Keefe being wounded. On this page the diary mentions he died of his wounds in hospital on april 5th. I searched that particular gunner oin the CWGC site, but I couldn't find him. I just found a private O'Keeffe (double F) who died on april 4th 1915 and who was a member of the Royal Irish Regiment and who is remembered in Belgium on the Menin Gate in Ypres, a memorial that only containes the names of missing soldiers and "my" O'Keefe died in a hospital, so he was not missing. In a last effort to find "my" O'Keefe, I omitted the O and found a gunner Keefe John who died on april 2th 1915 and is burried in the Boulogne Eastern cemetery, which corresponds to the fact that he died in a hospital. Do I tag "my" O'Keefe as Keefe John?
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by
cyngast
moderator
Yes, I think you've found him. I also looked for him and found the same John Keefe you did. I think in this case one of the dates may be wrong. (It may be that the 35th Brigade only got word on the 5th; perhaps the notice said something like "Died this day" and a busy adjutant just wrote down that day's date.)
The reason I think it is the same man is that the CWGC site says that John Keefe was with the 25th Battery, and I see that it is mentioned in the second line of this page. Also, what looks like an O in his name on this page could be a J with a very small top loop.
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
It seems like they are probably one and the same person: https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/2213321
He's buried in Boulogne, which is consistent with him having died in hospital. So it's either a mistake in the diary, or he really was O'Keefe, but for some reason appeared as Keefe in official documents. Either way, I would tag him as John Keefe.
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I met "my" Keefe once more on page AWD0003o6q, being mentioned in despatches. He has servicenumner 33236 and he is definitely the one that is buried in Boulogne.
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