Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

23/09/1941

Date of Discharge

11/10/1943

Place of Enlistment

Paddington NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

20/12/1892

Place of Birth

Numeralla NSW

Address (at enlistment)

34 Westlake (Yarralumla) ACT

Occupation

Labourer

Next of Kin

Patricia Corey (daughter)

Service Number

N280612

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

2 Garrison Battalion

Corey came from the Numeralla area and also served in World War 1, enlisting as part of the Men from Snowy River route march. He served as a stretcher bearer in the 55th Battalion and was the only soldier in the war to be awarded the Military Medal and three bars. That is, he was awarded the Military Medal four times.

The Military Medal (MM) was awarded for his actions at Queant, near Bullecourt, in May 1917. He earned the first bar to the MM at Polygon Wood in September 1917, the second bar at Peronne in September 1918 and the third bar at the Hindenburg Line near Bellicourt on 30 September 1918. On all four occasions it was for rescuing wounded men. His medals have been on display in the Hall of Valour in the Australian War Memorial.

He arrived in Canberra in the early 1920s and lived at Westlake and later Braddon and Downer. He served with the 13th Garrison Battalion at North Head in Sydney from September 1941 until discharged medically unfit with asthma. Corey died on 25 August 1972 and is buried in the ex-service's portion of the Woden Cemetery. Corey Place in Gowrie is named after him.

WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
NAA RecordSearch - Series B884 (Citizen's Military Forces Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947)
AWM Honours & Awards
Reveille, The Returned Sailors and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia, March 1931
Ann Gugler, 'True tales from Canberra's vanished suburbs of Westlake, Westridge & Acton', 1999
Alexander J. McGilvray, 'The Hallowed High Adventure', 1973 (p.99)
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'Men from Snowy River', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Stretcher Bearer', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial
The Canberra Times - 25 April 2007, 28 April 2007, 14 May 2008