GERRATHY, George
| Service Number: | 5340 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 20th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Cathcart War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 5340, 20th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Wiltshire embarkation_ship_number: A18 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 5340, 20th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Wiltshire, Sydney |
Our Family ANZACS - G Gerathy
George Gerathy
Enlisted 14 March 1916 – 20th Infantry Battalion – No 5340
Who knows what possessed George Gerathy to enlist when he was a quiet 42 year old farmer from Cathcart in the high Monaro country in the far south of NSW. He was not married which would have been a help and he nominated his younger brother Bert as his next of kin. A clue might be that he signed up at the Royal Agricultural Society’s grounds in Moore Park, Sydney which coincided with the holding of the Royal Easter Show in March 1916. George had probably come to Sydney for the show and had been overwhelmed by the patriotism on display and call for volunteers.
George was also the shortest of our family ANZACS standing at a mere 5 foot 3 inches. He had brown eyes and a dark complexion with brown hair (but going grey). Like Arthur Lattimore, George was first posted to the 45th Battalion at Dubbo where he may well have met Arthur. He would have known that their families had been joined only three years earlier in 1912 when Cecil O’Connor (whose mother was a Gerathy from Cathcart) married Arthur’s cousin, Clarice Lattimore.
A month later George was transferred to the 20th Battalion of the 2nd Division and sent to Liverpool near Sydney for training. He left Sydney on 22 August 1916 on the troopship Wiltshire and arrived in England on 13 October 1916.
After travelling through Etaples in France, he joined the 20th Battalion in December 1916. The 20th took part in the Second Battle of Bullecourt. The Australian Battalions were ordered to advance across open snow covered ground on 11 April 1917. They arrived at the village of Reincourt, just to the north of Bullecourt, but were pushed back by a German counter attack suffering 3,300 casualties out of a force of 5,000 men.
They attacked again on 3rd May, this time holding their position and forcing the Germans to withdraw. On this occasion there were 7,000 Australian casualties including George Gerathy who was shot in his left thigh.
After an operation in Rouen, France to remove the bullet and the resultant bone fragments, he was sent to a hospital in Wandsworth, London. His wound was quite severe with the bullet also fracturing his pelvis. He was considered to be unfit for service and four months later he was sent back to Australia on the troopship Ulysses where he was discharged in December 1917. He received a war pension of £1 per fortnight as compensation (later increased to £2 but then reduced to £1-10-0 shillings from 1 August 1918).
George did not have long to enjoy his pension, dying three and a half years later on 15 August 1921 in Sydney at the age of 48.
Glendon O'Connor 2015
Submitted 9 January 2015 by Glendon O'Connor