Percy Valentine STORKEY VC

STORKEY, Percy Valentine

Service Number: Officer
Enlisted: 10 May 1915, Liverpool, New South Wales
Last Rank: Captain
Last Unit: 19th Infantry Battalion
Born: Napier, New Zealand, 1 January 1891
Home Town: Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales
Schooling: Sydney University
Occupation: Law student
Died: Teddington, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London, England, 3 October 1969, aged 78 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Not yet discovered
Memorials: Campbell Australian War Memorial Officers of the 19th Battalion Pictorial Honour Roll, Keith Payne VC Memorial Park, North Bondi War Memorial, Orange Officers of the 19th Battalion Pictorial Honour Roll, Winchelsea WWI Memorial
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World War 1 Service

10 May 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, Officer, Liverpool, New South Wales
20 Dec 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 19th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Suevic embarkation_ship_number: A29 public_note: ''
20 Dec 1915: Embarked AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, 19th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Suevic, Sydney
10 Jun 1918: Promoted AIF WW1, Captain, 19th Infantry Battalion

Help us honour Percy Valentine Storkey's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Kathleen Bambridge

The studious young Stokey enlisted in the AIF in 1915 and was a lieutenant with the 19th Battalion at Bois-de-Hangard France on April 7 1918.  In the attack on strong German Positions, Stokey took command of his company which had been cut to ribbons.  faced with more than 100 Germans riflemen and machine gunnersin six short trenches,  Storkey knew he had only two alternatives - attack across the open or be wiped out.  Storkey shouting like a wild man led a charge as if he had a whole battalion behind him.  His men got among the dumfounded Germans killed 30 and captured three officers and 50 men. He then lead his men to the orignial objective and the action won him a Victoria Cross.  After the was Storkey became a barrister was a Crown Prosecutor in the country for many years and in 1939 he became a District Court Judge. In 1960 he had retired and was living in England.

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Biography contributed by Robert Kearney

Storkey, Percy Valentine (1893–1969)
by Warren Derkenne

 

Percy Valentine Storkey, soldier and judge, was born on 9 September 1893 at Napier, New Zealand, son of English-born Samuel James Storkey, printer, and his wife Sarah Edith, née Dean, from Auckland. Educated at Napier Boys' Grammar School and Victoria College, Wellington, he reached Sydney in 1911 where he worked as a clerk for the Orient Steamship Co. and then for the Teachers' College, Blackfriars. In 1912 he joined the administrative staff of the University of Sydney and next year enrolled as a law student.

Having had five years service with the Wellington Infantry, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force as a private on 10 May 1915 and was commissioned second lieutenant in September. A 'well-knit figure [5 ft 7½ ins (171 cm) tall] with dark hair and eyes … a laughing face and dare-devil, happy-go-lucky ways', he embarked for England in December with reinforcements for the 19th Battalion. On 14 November 1916 he joined his unit in France; five days later, while the 19th was attacking Gird Trenches north of Flers, he was wounded. Promoted lieutenant in January 1917, he was again wounded on 10 October during the 3rd battle of Ypres.

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/storkey-percy-valentine-8687 (adb.anu.edu.au)

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