William Keys
| Sir William Keys | |
|---|---|
| Born |
2 February 1923 Lidcombe, New South Wales |
| Died |
3 May 2000 (aged 77) Queanbeyan, New South Wales |
| Allegiance |
 Australia |
| Service/branch | Australian Army |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles/wars |
Second World War Korean War |
| Awards |
Knight Bachelor Companion of the Order of Australia Officer of the Order of the British Empire Military Cross |
| Other work | President of the Returned and Services League (1978–88) |
Sir Alexander George William "Bill" Keys AC, OBE, MC (2 February 1923 – 3 May 2000) was an Australian veteran and a long-serving president of the Returned and Services League (RSL).
Keys was born in Sydney in 1923. He enlisted in the military in 1940 and served with the Second Australian Imperial Force in New Guinea. He was injured at the Battle of Tarakan, and was invalided home for the rest of the war. He also served in the Korean War with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, although he was also wounded in that conflict.[1] He received the Military Cross in 1952.[2]
Before the Korean War, Keys had been elected to the New South Wales council of the RSL (1947), and he became national secretary of the RSL in 1961, rising to the presidency and retaining it until 1986.[2] Keys, who also served as international president of the Federation of Korean War Veterans Associations, was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1970 and Companion of the Order of Australia in 1988. He was knighted in 1979. He died after a battle with cancer in Queanbeyan in 2000.[2]
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