Beresford Stanley "Beres" Reilly (17 September 1914 – 23 July 1943) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also ...

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

and

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL).

Family

The third of the five children of William John Reilly (1882-1964), and Winifred Frances Reilly (1886-1964), née Knopp, Beresford Stanley Reilly was born at

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

, Victoria on 17 September 1914. He married Mary Margaret Purves on 4 January 1941.

Football

Representing a Victorian schoolboys team, he tried out for the

Footscray Football Club The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the ...

. He wasn't given a game and as such moved on to North Melbourne.

Military service

He was a good friend of

Keith Truscott Keith William "Bluey" Truscott, (17 May 1916 – 28 March 1943) was a World War II ace fighter pilot and Australian rules footballer with the Melbourne Football Club. After joining the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940, he became the second ...

, who was also killed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Serving as a

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

in the

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

, Reilly was killed when his

Martin Baltimore The Martin 187 Baltimore was a twin-engined light attack bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company in the United States as the A-30. The model was originally ordered by the French in May 1940 as a follow-up to the earlier Martin Maryland, then ...

aircraft crashed over Crete. All 4 on board died in the crash.In Memoriam: Roll of Honour — On Active Service: Reilly, ''The Argus'', (Tuesday, 23 July 1946), p.15.
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Notes

References

* Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. * Main, J. & Allen, D., "Reilly, Beresford", pp.323-326 in Main, J. & Allen, D., ''Fallen – The Ultimate Heroes: Footballers Who Never Returned From War'', Crown Content, (Melbourne), 2002.
World War Two Nominal Roll: Pilot Officer Beresford Stanley Reilly (401583), ''Department of Veterans' Affairs''.

World War Two Service Record: Pilot Officer Beresford Stanley Reilly (401583), ''National Archives of Australia''.

World War Two Casualty/Repatriation Record: Pilot Officer Beresford Stanley Reilly (401583), ''National Archives of Australia''.

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour: Pilot Officer Beresford Stanley Reilly (401583).

External links