1914-15 Star : Second Lieutenant A L K Cooper, Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force Accession Number: REL/11841.001

Description

1914-15 Star impressed on the reverse with recipient's details.

Contextual Description

Associated with the service of Second Lieutenant Arthur Lionel Keith Cooper, who was born on 12 January 1891, in Sydney, NSW. During his time in secondary school, Cooper joined the senior cadets, serving for two and a half years and reaching the rank of captain. He continued his service during the early years of his university degree.

Just after the outbreak of the First World War, Cooper enlisted in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF), bound for German New Guinea and the neighbouring islands of the Bismarck Archipelago . He was allocated the service number 590 and posted to G Company of the 1st (Tropical) Battalion with the rank of private. Reid was commissioned with the rank of second lieutenant on 18 August and embarked with his battalion from Cockatoo Island, Sydney aboard HMAT Berrima on 19 August.

The ANMEF landed at New Britain in September - the initial force, mainly naval personnel, landing at Kabakaul at dawn on 11 September. A day later, Cooper went ashore with the main force at Herbertshohe on 12 September. The actions fought by the Australians were short and the German forces surrendered on 13 September. The Union Jack was raised over Rabaul the same day.

Cooper was promoted to lieutenant on 1 January 1915 and returned to Australia with the first contingent in late February. He was discharged on 4 March 1915.

Cooper took up a post with the Australian Instructional Corps for the next two years before applying for a commission in the AIF. He undertook and passed the exam for second lieutenant on 13 July 1917. It wasn't until early May 1918 when he was commissioned and posted to the 11th NSW General Reinforcements.

He embarked from Circular Quay, Sydney aboard HMAT Borda on 17 July and disembarked in London on 27 September. Cooper was posted to the 5th Training Battalion before moving on 22 October to the Jellalabad Barracks, home of the Somerset Light Infantry as an instructor.

Cooper was admitted to Tidworth Military Hospital seriously ill with influenza on 31 October. His condition worsened over the following week and he contracted pneumonia. Cooper died in the early hours of 14 November and was buried two days later in the Tidworth Military Cemetery.