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Australia

Henry Clyde Stacey, was the second son of Henry William Stacey of Coolgardie, Western Australia and Catherine Harty (nee Speck) Wade of Port Pirie, South Australia. He was born on 8 May 1898 in Stirling North, South Australia. In July 1898, Catherine Harty (nee Speck) and Henry William Stacey’s marriage broke down. As a result of this event Henry, a teamster, packed up his horse teams and went west to Coolgardie and found work carting goods around that area. In the Port Augusta Court, on 5 December 1902, Catherine Harty Stacey (nee Speck) sued her husband Henry William Stacey, now living at Kanowna, Western Australia, for maintenance under the Married Woman's Property Act. The verdict of the court was to allocate maintenance to the youngest child, Henry Clyde five years old, and Catherine at 10/shillings per week, payable monthly. Also Henry William Stacey was given custody of the three elder children, Mercy Hermine ten years old, Stephen Thomas nine years old and Nellie Hearty seven years old.

In 1905, Henry's mother, Catherine Harty (nee Speck) married Edward O'Brien Wade at Port Pirie, South Australia. Prior to the war, Henry Clyde Stacey had been employed as a baker.

1916

On Thursday 30 March 1916, aged 17¾ years, Henry Clyde Stacey signed his A.I.F. Attestation Papers at Port Pirie. He indicated that he was 18½ years old on his papers even though his birth date was 8 May 1898. Henry Clyde Stacey, regimental number 2200, was assigned to the 5th Pioneer Battalion – 3rd Reinforcement and embarked on the troopship ‘HMAT Seang Bee’, from Port Adelaide on Thursday 13 July 1916, arriving at Plymouth, England on Saturday 9 September.

After just over two months training in England Henry was transported to Etaples, France on board the ‘SS Prince Henrictho’ and marched into the 5th ADBD (Australian Divisional Base Depot) at Etaples on 29 November 1916. Awaiting orders to join his battalion, Henry became sick and was transferred to the No.18 General Hospital, Camiers with the mumps. Knowing that mumps was contagious, Henry was kept in isolation for a week and remained at the hospital until all of the associated conditions abated.

1917

It wasn't until 4 April 1917 that Henry was marched out of the 5th ADBD (Australian Divisional Base Depot) to join the 5th Pioneer Battalion at Bapaume. April 1917, on the Somme, started with a violent snowstorm that was a major hindrance for the 5th Pioneer Battalion’s construction work. Henry Clyde Stacey was kept busy dodging the German artillery as he, along with the rest of the 5th Pioneer Battalion, repaired the Bueudecourt road south of Bapaume. At the end of the month the battalion were camped at Fricourt Farm for a one week rest and sporting activities. A stadium was erected and a boxing tournament was held, as well as a football match.

The 5th Pioneers were on the move again on the morning of 9 May 1917, after a four mile march to Bazentin they loaded all their equipment, materials and themselves onto the light rail for the 9 mile trip to Bapaume, where they relieved the 2nd Pioneer Battalion. That night their camp was shelled and one tent, full of men, received a direct hit. Twelve men were killed and twenty-three wounded. They were back in the firing line of the German artillery.

Their work in this area was the construction of a 2 mile long light rail system from Vaulx-Vraucourt north-east to Noreuil. Henry and the rest of the 5th Pioneer Battalion relocated to Thilloy and commenced digging the defences around Bancourt, which involved the construction of a 3 foot deep by 3 foot wide trench, with a camouflaged parapet wall, six hundred yards long. The trench system also included machine gun posts and barbed wire defences.

On 7 June the battalion commenced restoring the Reincourt defences, which entailed trench clearing, more machine gun posts and barbed wire defences. Trench clearing could be a very traumatic task as during battle soldiers who were shot and killed were left laying in the trench, they were buried where they lay, in shallow graves, during a lull in the fighting. These bodies were uncovered during clearing and other trench modifications.

On 17 June 1917 the 5th Pioneer Battalion was relieved by the 2nd Pioneer Battalion and they marched to Bapaume, boarded a train and travelled the 12 miles to Aveluy, just north of Albert. At the Aveluy Wood camp they constructed a grenade range, a bayonet fighting range and a rifle range which were all put into commission immediately. The training was interrupted for a few days when the battalion was detailed to clean out two miles of the River Ancre, from Aveluy north to Authuille and construct a field firing range at Henencourt, three miles north.

In July and August 1917, the 5th Pioneer Battalion was kept busy creating pontoons, bridges and tracks across the marshes around Corbie and Lealvillers, after which they were trucked 60 miles north to Blaringhen. Mid August they were trucked the 25 miles to Ouderdom, Belgium where they constructed a number of gun positions, after which they marched to Dickebusch 2 miles north. From Dickebusch, during September, they were involved in the construction of the forward roads, partially metalled and planked, to Zillebeke. During the construction of the roads the battalion were under constant shelling and sniping by the enemy. On 18 September 1917 a ferocious enemy attack left three men dead and seventeen wounded.

The 5th Pioneer Battalion were successful in repairing the shell holes on the Glencorse Wood road by 25 September, permitting motor traffic for two miles and horse traffic thereafter. The Australian 5th Division attacked the German positions on the Menin Road on Wednesday 26 September 1917.

1918

When the rumours of a major German offensive were intercepted in early 1918, Henry Clyde Stacey and the rest of the 5th Pioneer Battalion were ordered back to the Somme, where they set up camp at Arqueves, ten miles north-west of Albert.

In March 1918, the Germans commenced their ‘Spring Offensive’ in an all out effort to bring about an end to the war. With the arrival of the soldiers from the eastern front they realised that their troop numbers, on the western front, were greater than the Allies. The timing of the offensive was also related to the United States entering the war and starting to mobilise troops to assist the Allies.

In the early morning of 21 March 1918 a five hour artillery barrage was commenced by the Germans, utilising normal explosive bombs, shrapnel bombs and poison gas shells. At the conclusion of the artillery barrage the German soldiers, wearing gas masks, moved forward through the poison gas clouds and a heavy fog with their aim to surge across the River Somme. Reports were that the visibility was near zero, and soldiers on both sides had problems identifying friend from foe.

The Germans captured the bridges across the River Somme, before the French could destroy them, and the German Army crossed the Somme on Monday 24 March, 1918. The next day they broke through the Allied front-line and kept moving across the Somme. The 44th Battalion A.I.F. engaged the Germans near Sailly-Laurette, a village twelve miles east of Amiens and six miles south-west of Albert, on 28 March. The Germans launched a full frontal attack, out of Sailly–Laurette village, and came towards the Australians, across open ground with no artillery support, and the Australian Lewis guns, machine guns and rifle fire shot them to oblivion. After ten minutes the advance became retreat.

The Germans tried to cross the open fields three times that day, and engage the Australian line, but each time they were met with a hail of fire and at dusk they retired. The German advance was held on this front by the Australians, with supporting British units, until 4 July.

Meanwhile, twenty miles to the north, Henry Clyde Stacey and the rest of the 5th Pioneer Battalion were still encamped at Arqueves.

Eighteen miles south of Arqueves, at Villers-Bretonneux, the Germans were pushing north, capturing Hamel on 4 April with fifteen divisions, and attempted to capture Villers-Bretonneux. The British, and the 4th Division A.I.F. at Dernancourt, held the Germans back until 24 April when the Germans captured Villers-Bretonneux.

On the night of 24 April, British and Australian Brigades recaptured the town of Villers-Bretonneux, driving the Germans from the town and the adjacent woods. The German ‘Spring Offensive’ was starting to falter.

The German ‘Spring Offensive’, started in March, was faltering and the Allies began to prepare the launch of their own counter-offensive.

On 8 August 1918, the Allies launched their counter-attack, which they named ‘The Hundred Days Offensive’. On the morning of 8 August, Henry Clyde Stacey and the rest of the 5th Pioneer Battalion worked in front of the advancing infantry, repairing the road from Villers-Brettoneux north to Warfusee-Abancourt, near Amiens. The road works were necessary to ensure that the Allied armoured cars, motor transport and horse wagons had a smooth path as they advanced inside the Germans boundaries.

The war, on the Western Front, was gradually becoming more difficult for the German and Austro-Hungarian armies, after their withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in September 1918. The Allied armies, advancing from the south, liberated Serbia and put pressure on Austria-Hungary. Bulgaria, the first of the Central Powers to surrender, signed an armistice on 29 September. At this time Germany and Austria-Hungary had no intention of surrendering, even though Germany’s government was undergoing a revolution, and Austria-Hungary’s army was collapsing amid mass mutiny.

Following the Battle of Beaurevoir, all battalions of the A.I.F. were removed from the front-line on 5 October, after a request from the Australian Prime Minister, Billy Hughes. The Australian Forces had become severely depleted and manpower shortages, resulting from the decrease in the volunteer numbers from Australia, were taking their toll. A decision had also been made to grant home leave to men who had served for more than four years.

1919

In April 1919 Henry Clyde Stacey and what remained of the 5th Pioneer Battalion were still in Belgium, stationed at Silenrieux. On 7 April the 5th Pioneer Battalion, with the majority of its soldiers repatriated, was amalgamated with the 5th Machine-Gun Battalion. Henry became part of Repatriation Quota 31, which consisted of two officers, nine sergeants and one hundred and ninety-eight other ranks, who were paid on 8 April and departed the camp the next day, by train, bound for Le Havre, France and the AGBD (Australian General Base Depot).

They remained at Le Havre until Wednesday 16 April when they went aboard a cross-channel troopship for the trip across the channel, where they arrived the next morning, at Weymouth, England. The group were marched into the No.5 Group Camp at Weymouth. There was still a backlog of soldiers awaiting repatriation and the 5th Pioneer/Machine-Gun soldiers were informed that they would remain in camp until mid June. On 14 May, Henry was hospitalised with another attack of trench fever.

Due to his hospitalisation, Henry did not leave England when the other 5th Pioneer/Machine-Gun soldiers went aboard the ‘HT Beltana’, at the Devonport Naval Dockyard, Plymouth on 2 June, bound for Australia. Henry left the Weymouth hospital, and was transported to London, where he went aboard the ‘SS Port Lyttleton’, on 10 June. The Australian Inspector of Troopships, General Heitmann, declared the sanitary system aboard the ‘SS Port Lyttleton’ unsatisfactory, and the ship, with 1,100 soldiers on board, did not depart until Sunday 14 June, steaming directly to Melbourne arriving on Tuesday 5 August. The South Australian soldiers were transferred to a special overnight train, which had them at Keswick Barracks at 11.10 am the next day. After medicals and paperwork completion the soldiers were granted leave. Henry caught the train to Port Pirie on Saturday to spend time with his family. His step-father, Edward O’Brien Wade and Edward's brother, John Peter Wade, had also returned from the war in March and July respectively.

Henry Clyde Stacey returned to Adelaide and on Sunday 21 September 1919, age twenty-one, he was discharged, medically fit, after duty in WWI where he spent three years and one-hundred and forty-four days in the A.I.F., in the 5th Pioneer Battalion, in France and Belgium and suffered from trench fever.

LATER YEARS

In late October 1921, Henry Clyde Stacey, after returning home just two years previously, had a recurrence of trench fever. He passed away in Port Pirie on Wednesday 2 November 1921 as a result of the fever, at the young age of twenty-three.

His funeral procession, to the Port Pirie cemetery, was a tribute to his sacrifice with a Union Jack draped coffin, the hearse laden with wreaths and floral tributes, his pallbearers were all members of the Returned Soldiers’ Association.

Sources

Australian War Memorial - www.awm.gov.au (www.awm.gov.au)

The Immigrants, Paul M. Hoskins, Xlibris, 2013