Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Albert McGORM (Bert)

Military Medal

Recommedation:-  

'At POZIERES on 25th July this N.C.O as leader of a team of Battalion bombers led them on repeatedly against a strong point and was on one occasion the only surviving member of a party. He organised another bomb team and very gallantly led them on again. In this action he was seriously wounded.'

'For conspicuous bravery at Pozieres, France.'

Recommendation date: 2 August 1916

Major – General H B Dacker

Commanding 1st.Aust.Division

G.O.C 2nd Inf. Military Brigade

Awarded August 19, 1918

Bert McGorm was 6 foot, one inch tall and weighed nearly 12 stone. He fitted the mould of early recruits and easily met the height and chest measurement requirements established in August 1914.

He would embark in mid April 1915 in the 4th reinforcements for the 5th Battalion and embarked for the Dardanelles on May 22, joining his unit on June 6, 1915. The original 5th Battalion members had landed on April 25, 1915 and were grimly holding on in the trenches of Anzac cove. Following five weeks of fighting he would be admitted to the Field Ambulance with an injury to his knee on July 12, 1915, serious enough to be evacuated to Malta by the end of the July. Further treatment would be needed and he was sent to England on August 23 not returning to his battalion on Gallipoli on November 20, 1915.

Bert and all the allied troops would be evacuated from the fateful experience of Gallipoli on December 19, 1915. In total he survived 9 weeks in total on those fateful shores.

Back in Egypt, he would be promoted to Lance Corporal in mid February, then corporal in mid April 1916. He would travel with his battalion to a new and more dangerous front in France & Belgium.

The first news heard on Bert M’Gorm would be read in the Bendigonian on August 24, 1916 with  the heading: - WOUNDED

Word has been received from the Defence department by Mrs. F. M'Gorm, of Murphy-street, Kennington, that her son, Corporal Albert (Bert) M'Gorm, was wounded in the recent fighting in France. A private cable message from Corporal M'Gorm states that as the result he had lost his right arm. Corporal M'Gorm left Australia early in April, 1915, with reinforcements for the 5th Battalion and was for some time in action at Gallipoli. He has been on active service fourteen months. Before enlisting he followed the occupation of a plasterer. [1]

Two months later, the same newspaper would bring the brighter news on Bert:- WINNER OF THE MILITARY MEDAL.

Corporal BERT M'GORM,

Mrs. M'Gorm was notified in August last that her son had been severely wounded on the 25th July, and no doubt his wounds were received in the performance of the deed which won the medal for him. Corporal M'Gorm received shrapnel wounds in the leg and also in the right arm, which, unfortunately, has since had to be amputated. No particulars have yet been received regarding his work in winning the medal.[2]

The Bendigo Independent newspaper would provide encouraging news a year after Bert’s heroics and wounding (Vic. : 1891 - 1918)  Tue 14 Aug 1917  Page 8

RETURNED HEROS - PUBLIC WELCOME AT TOWN HALL

The citizens of Bendigo last evening tendered a complimentary "Welcome Home" social to over 100 heroes who responded to the call of the Empire, went over to fight her battle on foreign shores, and either wounded or incapacitated by sickness, have returned to their native land once more. The soldiers were for the most part wearing their khaki uniforms, on which were sewn the returned soldiers colors, while military decorations won on the field of battle were here and there to be seen. For the most part the men looked well and happy the loss of an arm or a leg apparently having very little effect upon those who had so suffered. The citizens extended a most cordial welcome to the relatives or friends.[3]

Bert would return to Bendigo and take part in recruitment rallies as enlistment numbers dropped significantly.

SERVICE DETAILS: 

Regimental No. 1785

Place of birth: Melbourne Victoria 1892

Religion: Church of England

Occupation:Plasterer

Address: Murphy Street, Bendigo, Victoria

Marital status: Single

Age at enlistment: 22

Next of kin: Father, Frank McGorm, (Mary) Murphy Street.

Enlistment date: 30 December 1914

Unit name: 5th Battalion, 4th Reinforcement

Embarked: HMAT A18 Wiltshire on 14 April 1915

Final Rank: Corporal

Fate: Returned to Australia 14 January 1917
Died: 1945

POZIERES on 25th July 1916

The Battle of Pozieres was the toughest task faced by the AIF in the First World War. The remains of thousands of Australians killed in the fighting were never found and still lie beneath the fields in this tiny corner of France.  Today Pozieres is a shrine to the bravery of the original Anzacs.

Charles Bean's epitaph to the fallen is inscribed on a stone plinth at the site of the Windmill;_

"The ruin of Pozieres Windmill which lies here was the centre of the struggle in this part of the Somme battlefield in July and August 1916. It was captured on August 4 by Australian troops who fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefield of the war"

[1] Bendigonian on August 24, 1916  Page 21

[2] Bendigonian Thu 19 Oct 1916  Page 31
[3] Bendigo Independent, Tue 14 Aug 1917  Page 8