Steel helmet decorated
by 2143 Corporal Ernest Albert Corey. Corey was born in Numeralla,
NSW, in 1891. He enlisted in 1916 as part of the 'Men from Snowy
River' recruitment march in the southern highlands of NSW, served
throughout the war as a stretcher bearer with 55 Battalion, and
remains the only man in the British Empire to be awarded the Military
Medal with three Bars.
- The first award of the MM was
made for the fighting around Bullecourt in May 1917, where Corey
worked assisting the wounded, in full view of the enemy, for 17
hours.
- In September of the same year, he
received the first Bar to the award for his bravery at Polygon
Wood.
- The second Bar came a year later,
in the attack on Peronne by 5 Australian Division, and
- before the end of September 1918,
a third Bar, for the attack on the Hindenburg Line near Bellicourt,
was also earned. In this last operation, Corey was severely
wounded, and was repatriated to Australia in 1919.
Between the wars he held a variety
of jobs, and served with 13 Garrison Battalion during the Second World
War. Ernie Corey died in 1972.
|
