Ernest Stanislaus MAY

Badge Number: SALM13 Mounted, Sub Branch: Wudinna
SALM13 Mounted

MAY, Ernest Stanislaus

Service Numbers: 2129, S70710
Enlisted: 17 March 1915
Last Rank: Lance Corporal
Last Unit: Volunteer Defence Corps (SA)
Born: Elliston, South Australia, 12 April 1890
Home Town: Elliston, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Labourer
Died: 16 February 1967, aged 76 years, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Wudinna Cemetery, S.A.
Memorials: Elliston War Memorial
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World War 1 Service

17 Mar 1915: Enlisted
23 Jun 1915: Embarked Private, 2129, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), HMAT Borda, Adelaide
23 Jun 1915: Involvement Private, 2129, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Borda embarkation_ship_number: A30 public_note: ''
11 Nov 1918: Involvement Corporal, 2129, 38th Infantry Battalion

World War 2 Service

5 May 1942: Involvement Lance Corporal, S70710, Volunteer Defence Corps (SA)
5 May 1942: Enlisted Wudinna, SA
5 May 1942: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Lance Corporal, S70710
14 Jun 1945: Discharged

Help us honour Ernest Stanislaus May's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Cornerstone College

Ernest Stanislaus May was born on the 20th of April, 1890 at Elliston South Australia.

May’s closest relatives were his father Charles May and his mother Martha May. Ernest had 6 other siblings.

Before the war Ernest worked as a labourer. Ernest enlisted for World War One in March 1915. He was 25 at the time of the enlistment.

May embarked from Adelaide on the 23 of June 1915 on a ship called HMAT Borda A30.

While at war he was involved in the 16th Battalion which consisted of 75% of Western Australians and the rest were South Australians.

They landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and went into combat the next week. May then went onto the 38th battalion where was a sergeant and in late November they moved onto the western Front in France.

Ernie returned to Australia on the 9th of March 1919 and was discharged on the 25th of June 1919. His brother Percival Edmund May died in action on the 7th of August 1915.

After the war Ernest returned home and he married Florence Brenand and had 5 children Aileen, Allen, Robert, Eleanor and Alice. Ernest farmed at Kyancutta before retiring.

Ernest received 3 medals, the 1914-15 star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Ernest died on the 16 of February 1967.

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