MEMBREY, Raymond Edward
| Service Number: | 3877 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 21st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 8 Feb 1916: | Involvement Private, 3877, 21st Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Warilda embarkation_ship_number: A69 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Feb 1916: | Embarked Private, 3877, 21st Infantry Battalion, HMAT Warilda, Melbourne |
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Contributed by Heathfield High School
Private Raymond Edward Membrey No.3877 began his journey with the Australian Imperial and Military Force on the 17.7.15. Raymond, who was also known as Ray, was an unwed man who joined the army at the young age of 18 years old.
Raymond Edward Membrey was born in 1897 on the 8th of the 4th. He was born in Australia, Victoria, Stawell to a mother, H.E Membrey. His father, who was a blacksmith in Stawell, died at the age of 38 from Typhoid Fever. He was a 5,6 male with light chestnut coloured hair. His Religious Denomination was Methodist. Raymond was one of nine children. He was one of 2 youngest children. The other child is his twin sister. His twin sister died in 1986 at the old age of 89. Like many of us Membrey had a hobby when he was around 12. Membrey played the slide trombone for a band called the Stawell Band. He continued to play for that band for 6 years. He and his siblings all went to school at the age of 13 him and his twin sister being the last to attend. Raymond did his first job working at a post office delivering telegrams. Then he moved to working in the retail shoe-shining shop. When he was 14, Membrey became an apprentice to his uncle, who was a coach builder. he continued in this pathway for 5 years before he decided to enlist in the AIF(Australian Imperial Force) on his 18th birthday. Also, at the age of 14, he served for the senior cadets age (14-18) this was just for military training as he reached the rank of Lance Corporal. In his diary He talks about a bike he bought when he was 14. And how that bike was still there when he got back from war, waiting for him to ride it again. The impact of training as a cadet and feeling the satisfaction of reaching the rank he did impacted on his decision on joining the army severely.
Private Raymond Edward Membrey joined the Australian Imperial and Military Force on the 17.7.15. Membrey was deployed to the 21st Infantry Battalion on 8 February 1916, working in the western front in France. While there, he trained as a machine gun operator. In his diary He recalls sating at a hotel in Melbourne while his doctor cleared him and then being recruited to the military force. He recalls being given his rifle and uniform and all his gear.
Raymond served in WW1, where he was kidnapped for 2 years at the age of only 19 one year after he joined.
In April 1916, Raymond Membrey was reported missing. Membrey was reported kidnapped by the German army shortly after his disappearance. He was taken captive at Mouquet Farm. In his memoirs, Raymond wrote about the five days that he spent alone in a trench. This was while he had a major injury to his left arm, being shot in the elbow in battle. He recalls being in the trenches alone he said "We were down to two and the next day a sniper got my mate, and I was on my own. I could have retreated but decided to shoot it out. That's the job I was here for, and the funny thing was, I never felt afraid." After that he passed out until the Germans found him with his arms bones shattered and his skin teared . Before the Germans came, he talked in his diary about how he struck them down throwing grenades over the trenches with the one hand that was working. "I put my head down and my left arm up and took the full force of the blast," he said. He recounted this before he was taken as a prisoner by the German army. He was then moved to a prisoner of war camp in Göttingen. While in the prisoner of war camp, Membrey's wound only got worse, leading to the amputation of his arm performed by a German doctor. While Membrey was imprisoned he was allowed to contact family members by written letters and was also allowed to receive small luxuries. A written letter sent to his mother informs her about his injury and his current status as a prisoner also informing his mother about his location at the camp and reassuring her that he was healing from his injury. There are also records of the dates and places Membrey was before the kidnapping and the days of the kidnapping. It tells us the date this young man was let go from the prison of war camp and back to England, then to Australia. In one of Raymond’s diary’s, he recalls his story. After years of living as a prisoner in the camp, he was nominated to be one of a few prisoners who were sent back to Australia in a prisoner exchange. He was sent to England first to recover, then in the following small amount of time he was sent back to Australia in April 1918 at the age of 21.
His Story written by Private Raymond Edward Membrey
https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG0001604/bundled/RCDIG0001604.pdf
Website
https://thewest.com.au/news/australia/act-of-mercy-for-only-a-boy-ng-ya-371913
More Websites
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2133385?image=1