HARRY, Gilbert
| Service Number: | 634 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 May 1915, Derbyshire Volunteers 18 months but medically unfit. |
| Last Rank: | Captain |
| Last Unit: | 26th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Guernsey, Channel Islands, 23 January 1891 |
| Home Town: | South Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Gunsmith |
| Died: | Effects of WWI gas, Gympie, Queensland, Australia , 21 March 1931, aged 40 years |
| Cemetery: |
Gympie Cemetery, Qld Originally died a pauper but his grave has recently been up graded to a standard befitting such a man. See Courier Mail article. |
| Memorials: | Tusmore Burnside District Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 13 May 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 634, 26th Infantry Battalion, Derbyshire Volunteers 18 months but medically unfit. | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun 1915: | Embarked 634, 26th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Brisbane | |
| 29 Jun 1915: | Involvement 634, 26th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 16 Aug 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 26th Infantry Battalion | |
| 9 Dec 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 26th Infantry Battalion | |
| 14 Dec 1916: | Honoured Military Medal, Battle for Pozières , In all his duties in the attack on Pozieres Ridge 4th August 1916, he showed great courage and control and rendered valuable services. | |
| 18 Apr 1918: | Honoured Military Cross, Menin Road, On the 20th September 1917 on attack on Westoek Ridge, Lt HARRY, intelligence officer went forward and scouted enemy positions | |
| 19 Sep 1918: | Promoted AIF WW1, Captain, 26th Infantry Battalion | |
| 4 Mar 1919: | Honoured Military Cross and bar, The Battle of Amiens, During the operation on 11th August at Framerville (?) Sth of Arras. He went forward under heavy machine gun and rifle fire to within a hundred yards of the enemy posts, and obtained information which was much required. he displayed fine courage and determination. | |
| 14 Oct 1920: | Discharged AIF WW1, Captain, 634, 26th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Aubrey Bairstow
Gilbert Harry (1893-1931), soldier and farmer, was born on 21 February 1893 at St Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands, son of Samuel Harry, Primitive Methodist minister, and his wife Sarah Ida, née Bleathman.
He emigrated to Queensland shortly before World War I and when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 13 May 1915 gave his occupation as gunsmith and settler. He had been working his own land at Milmerran.
Harry was allotted to the 26th Battalion and because of his knowledge of firearms and service with the Derbyshire Volunteers was soon posted to unit headquarters as armourer sergeant. The battalion sailed for Egypt in June and landed at Gallipoli on 11 September; five days later Harry was transferred to Ordnance, Anzac Corps. On 29 October he returned to his battalion which remained at Gallipoli until evacuation in December.
It embarked from Egypt for France on 15 March 1916; from May to August Harry was attached to 2nd Divisional Armoury but he rejoined his battalion in time for the terrible fighting around Pozières in August. There, during the 26th's fifty hours in the trenches, he won his first decoration, the Military Medal. Although a non-combatant attached to battalion headquarters, he pleaded to take part in the attack. When the officer commanding the battalion ammunition dump became a casualty he took over and 'despite the fact that he was once completely buried and later was severely shaken by a high explosive shell stuck to his job gamely'. At great personal risk, he guided carrying parties across the open from the dump to the captured trenches.
Commissioned as a second lieutenant on 16 August, he was appointed sniping officer to the 7th Brigade in September; he was promoted lieutenant on 9 December and attended a staff course at Clare College, Cambridge, from February to April 1917.
Harry was awarded the first of his Military Crosses in September for 'courage, devotion to duty and plucky and clever reconnaissance' as brigade intelligence officer before the attack on Westhoek Ridge, near Ypres, Belgium. Because of his work, which involved being under continuous heavy shell-fire, the battalions of the 7th Brigade suffered no casualties while they were assembling for the assault.
On 4 October he was wounded during the fighting around Broodseinde.
He was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross for 'fine courage and determination' south of Framerville, France, on 11 August 1918; as brigade intelligence officer he obtained required information even though he was caught in a barrage and 'his clothing was pierced by enemy snipers' fire'.
He was wounded again at Mont St Quentin on 1 September but remained on duty; that month he was made a temporary captain in the 26th Battalion but remained on secondment for brigade intelligence work for the rest of the war.
He embarked for Australia in June 1919 and his A.I.F. appointment ended on 19 September.
Little is known of Harry's post-war civilian life. In 1922-30 he was dairy farming at Kanyan near Gympie, Queensland; a nearby storekeeper recalled that his agricultural career was dogged by misfortune.
Several elderly people who recall him from their youth recalled that he seemed to have a lot of money and was of a better class than the other locals. They recall he had the first wireless radio in the area, the first tractor and silos – even though the latter were never filled.
By all accounts he used to catch the train into Gympie on a regular basis yet no one in the area had any knowledge of his military service.
He died, unmarried, at Gympie on 21 March 1931. Accounts suggest that he committed suicide by overdose and was not found for a few days.
He was buried in an unmarked grave in Gympie Anglican cemetery. In more recent years the Gympie RSL have come to recognise him as the war hero that he was and he has a proper military grave – the unveiling of which was attended by a niece from England. His Military Cross and bar is held at Gympie RSL
Harry was reserved by nature, dapper and small in stature. He was one of only nine members of the A.I.F. to win the Military Medal and Military Cross and Bar.
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