8/14/2019 The Gorey family at war, part 2

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17SNFEATURENEWS DESK (03) 58 203 221; editor@sheppnews.com.auSMS 042 SMS NEWS; www.sheppnews.com.au

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2008

for a brave family

Never before have I seen such a streamof prisoners going to the rear, guns of alldescriptions in scores, machine guns,trench mortars, etc and the dead Fritzwere terrible to gaze on . . .

WILLIAM (BILL) GOREY

from previous pageThe history of the 21st

Battalion, The Red and Black

Diamond, by N.C. Smithgives some insight into thehorrors he endured.

There is a graphic diarypassage after the battle ofPozieres attributed to sol-dier Leo Hine.

There is no sleep and lit-tle movement except forthe endless procession ofwounded.

The dead lie in the trenchin various attitudes. Here isone sitting with his back in aniche in the wall, a book onhis knees. There is no wound.He was killed by concussiona week ago and still he sits

there rotting away underour eyes. All the time there is the

drawn-out whine and nerve-shattering crash of the shells.Sometimes they come singlyalong the trench, and some-

times they come in a perfecttornado. To the man sittingin the trench it is Hell. He

sees this one blown to piec-es, that one buried, anothershockingly mutilated.

One of the most pitiableof sights is that of a mansuffering from shell shock,his nerves shattered, and insome cases, his reason de-stroyed.

He crouches on the ground,shaking like a leaf, and atthe sound of an approach-ing shell he whimpers like afrightened child.

The victory at Villers-Bretonneux in July 1918 isfamous in Australian mili-tary history and to this day,

French school children inthe village honour AnzacDay in recognition of theirtown being liberated. BillGorey was serving with the21st Battalion during thisbattle.

The battalions success at

Mont St Quentin on Sep-

tember 1, 1918 won world-

wide attention. It was re-garded as a turning point in

the later stages of the war.The Germans had been

retreating for several days,

but chose to make a standat Mont St Quentin. TheGerman defenders were lat-er found to be hand-pickedtroops who fought to thedeath. Bill Gorey completedhis service in Britain.

His exemplary record

was only tarnished when

charged as being absent

without leave. His servicepapers state that he was

absent from March 3 untilplaced under open arrest bymilitary police at Glasgow

on April 4.He was held under chargefor four days before be-ing severely reprimandedby Major W.V. Jardine anddocked 39 days pay.

Bill departed for Australia

aboard the HT Runic on April 27, 1919 and disem-barked on June 6. He was

formally discharged on Au-gust 2. According to The News

of Monday, July 14, 1919 anenthusiastic gathering ofGrahamvale residents wel-comed their heroes.

The local school wasfilled to capacity for a partyin honor of Bill, his brotherCharles and five other re-turned servicemen.

There were speeches andmusical entertainmentincluding the singing ofHome Sweet Homeby sevenyoung ladies.

Shortly after his return

Bill successfully acquireda Soldier Settler block atLemnos. He was one ofthat areas original settlersand his name appears on a1924 petition to the Educa-tion Department seeking

the establishment of a localschool. Bill worked as a rab-bit trapper while waiting for

his peach, pear, plum andapricot trees to bear fruitand continued to work theblock until forced to sell thefarm to clear debts in 1942.

From 1942 to 1948 Billand his wife Jemima op-erated the Central DiningRooms in Wyndham Street which provided meals forbus travellers heading to orfrom Benalla, Bendigo andEchuca.

The couple retired to Car-rum where Bill built chickensheds along the back fenceof a large block and raisedpoultry.

Bill Gorey died at Fosteron June 6, 1961. His life andhis service should never beforgotten.

The Newswould like to thankMichael Gorey for his assistancein compiling this feature.

James Daniel Gorey was born at Whroo onNovember 8, 1894 andbaptised at Sacred HeartCatholic Church in Tatu-ra on November 4, 1895.

Little is known abouthis early life but as the youngest in the family,James was probably theonly child still living withhis parents when theymoved from Whroo toShepparton about 1910.

Family tradition has itthat James enlisted un-der age to serve in theFirst World War, but waspulled out by his father,Edward Gorey.

James served withthe 2nd Pioneer Battal-ion and proceeded viathe British Expedition-ary Force in Alexandriain Egypt to Marseilles, where he arrived onMarch 26, 1916.

On February 14, 1917he wrote to the Cobramand District SoldiersCommittee. His sisterMary was living at Co-

bram and presumablyarranged for James toreceive parcels fromhome. James was ad-mitted to hospital twice with illness, the secondtime being for mumpson April 3, 1917. He at-tended divisional bomb-ing school on May 27 andrejoined his unit on June3. A year passed withoutincident, although thereis evidence James foughtin some of the warsbloodiest battles.

On June 16, 1918,James was transferredto the 2nd AustralianMachine Gun Battaliona move which probablycost his life as machinegunners suffered a highrate of casualties.

James was woundedin action on October 3,1918, and died from his wounds 29 days beforethe war ended.

Edward and SophiaGorey were notified oftheir youngest sonsdeath on October 18.

Edward Harold Gorey (Ned),the second youngest of Edwardand Sophias seven children, was born at Corop on August16, 1888.

The family moved to whatis today known as Reedy Lakenear Whroo in 1890 and Ned at-tended the nearby AngustownState School that was provided

for the children of local farmersand sawmill employees.

Ned formally enlisted at Mel-bourne to serve in the First World War on March 26, 1917when he was 28 years and sevenmonths.

His occupation at the timewas described as cook. He gavehis permanent address as be-ing Shepparton and his fathersname as next of kin. Curiously,he had completed an attesta-tion paper four days earlier atTrafalgar in which he gave hismothers name as next of kinand stated his occupation as la-bourer.

According to the enlistmentpapers, an earlier application toserve had been rejected on thegrounds of teeth which Nedmust have had repaired.

Ned disembarked at Liverpoolon August 26, 1917 and pro-ceeded to France on December18 and joined the 57th Battalionon Christmas Day.

On April 26, 1918, he sus-tained gunshot wounds to theback and was gassed severely.He was treated at the 6th Gener-al Hospital at Rouen and trans-ferred to Alexandra Hospital inCosham, England, where he wasadmitted on May 1.

He rejoined his battalion on

August 20, 1918 but just 10 dayslater he was wounded again,this time in the eye and he didnot rejoin his battalion untilshortly before the wars end.

He was discharged from theArmy on December 8, 1919 andsigned a receipt for his BritishWar Medal on January 6, 1922.

Ned lived in the Sheppartonarea for a short time after thewar before moving to Gippslandwhere he acquired a Soldier Set-tler potato farm at Dalmore.

Ned died on December 19,1971.

Charles Edward Gorey(left) was born at Pan-noomilloo in the Shire ofEchuca on September 18,1878. The place name ofhis birth does not surviveon maps today, but is situ-ated near Echuca.

Charles was nicknamedBoney by his brothers

and sisters, presumablybecause of his angularframe.

Until the 1908 electoralroll he is recorded as be-ing a farmer of Whroo butaround this time he movedto Queensland when heenlisted to serve with the4th Tunnelling Co on De-cember 7, 1915 at Bris-bane.

Charles was 37 yearsand two months at enliste-ment.

Tunnellers dug trenchesand did manual labor for

engineers. It was hard workand very dangerous.

He embarked from Syd-ney aboard the WarildaonMay 22, 1916 arriving inPlymouth on July 18. Heproceeded to France onAugust 29 and was takenon strength with the 1st Australian Tunnelling Co

on September 30.He sustained several in-

juries, the first of which was a dislocated shoulderthat plagued him for atleast several months.

He rejoined his companyat Rouelles on June 12 and was severely wounded byshell fire to the neck andleft arm at Ypres on Sep-tember 29, 1917, and as aresult he saw no more ac-tive duty.

His medical history re-veals that Charles had hisulna nerve severed, lead-

ing to paralysis and dis-charged as the disabilitywas permanent.

Charles attended a wel-come party with his broth-er Bill on Friday, July 11,1918 at Grahamvale.

Mr Roxburgh, repre-senting the SheppartonFathers Association, was

reported in the The Newsas saying he hoped aid would be extended to allthe Grahamvale soldiersin need of it for too muchcould not be done for suchmen.

Charles was rarely seenby his relatives, althoughhe did make several visitsto his brother Bill at Shep-parton between 1942 and1948.

According to his deathcertificate, Charles diedin camp on river nearDeniliquin in 1949.