Private Robert James Cassidy
- Rank
- Private
- Service number
- 3426
- Unit
- 16 Battalion
- Cause of death
- Killed in Action
- Place of death
- Flers, France
- Date of death
- 5 February 1917
- Age
- 24
- Plaque number
- M633B
- Co-located plaques
- M633 - PTE Harry Washer
- M633A - PTE Ernest Noyce
- Dedicated by
- Family on 16 February 2019
- More information
Biography presented during plaque dedication:
Private Robert James Cassidy was born at Violet Town, Victoria in 1892. His parents were Walter James and Alice Cassidy and he had one brother and four sisters. It is not known when the family moved to Western Australia where they lived in Collie.
After basic schooling, Robert was employed as a sleeper cutter.
He enlisted in the army in August 1915 and was allotted to 16 Battalion reinforcements. Following initial training at Blackboy Hill Military Camp, the reinforcements embarked at Fremantle for overseas service with the unit in Egypt.
Later in June 1916, they moved to France and the Western Front, where their first major action took place at Pozieres. They were engaged in bloody trench warfare and suffered heavy casualties during the latter part of 1916 and for most of 1917.
Private Robert James Cassidy, service number 3426 of 16 Battalion, was killed in action at Flers, France on 5 February 1917. He was 24 years of age.
He has no known grave and his name is recorded on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Picardie, France.
His plaque is placed alongside Private Harry I Washer and Private Ernest Clifford Noyce, who were in the same 16 Battalion and died on the same day.