Ernest Albert Corey - First World War

First World War

Following training at Goulburn camp, he embarked for overseas on 4 September aboard HMAT Port Sydney with the 4th Reinforcements for the 55th Battalion. Arriving in England, he spent three months with the 14th Training Battalion at Hurdcott, before joining the 55th Battalion on 8 February 1917 at Montauban, France. Posted to the grenade section of "C" Company, he took part in the capture of Doignies in April.

On 15 May, Corey's brigade was in action near Quéant. Suffering heavy losses, the Commanding Officer of the 55th called for volunteers to assist the stretcher bearers; Corey was one of thirty men who volunteered. For seventeen hours, he assisted in carrying the wounded approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) back to the dressing station; he was awarded the Military Medal for this action.

Following engagements at Bullecourt, the 5th Division—of which the 55th Battalion was part—spent four months in reserve, before moving into the Ypres sector in Belgium. Made a regular stretcher bearer, Corey was decorated with a bar to his Military Medal for his actions on 26 September during the Battle of Polygon Wood. While subject to heavy artillery and machine gun fire, he frequently ventured out into no-man's-land in order to tend to the wounded.

During the winter of 1917–1918, the 55th Battalion was posted to the Messines sector, where Corey was granted leave to the United Kingdom in February 1918. While on leave, he became ill and spent ninety days in hospital before rejoining his battalion in July. Shortly after, the Allies launched an offensive against the Germans in August along the Somme, where the 55th Battalion became involved in the capture of Péronne in September. It was here where Corey received the second bar to his Military Medal; between 1–2 September, while subject to heavy machine gun and artillery fire, he continually assisted the wounded with first aid.

Promoted to corporal on 21 September, he was placed in charge of the battalion's stretcher bearers, whom he led during the battle north of Bullecourt on 30 September. Corey attended to the wounded while exposed to fire, and continued to direct other bearer parties throughout the action until wounded himself, receiving wounds in the right groin and thigh. It was during this engagement that he was awarded a third bar to his Military Medal. Evacuated to a casualty station, Corey was operated on before receiving a transfer to a general hospital at Le Havre. Operated on again, he was sent to a hospital in Bristol, England. Repatriated to Australia on 30 April 1919, he was medically discharged in June.