Corporal Ernest CoreyPrint Page

The diorama commemorates Corporal Ernest Albert Corey (Stretcher Bearer of the 55th Battalion), the only soldier ever to be awarded the Military Medal and three bars. Corporal Corey died in Cooma in 1972.

On 15 May 1917, in an action near Quéant, his brigade suffered heavy casualties and Corey volunteered to serve as a stretcher-bearer: showing `great courage` he worked for seventeen hours in no man`s land and was awarded the Military Medal. He became a regular stretcher-bearer and won a Bar to his medal for `devotion to duty` in the battle of Polygon Wood on 26 September, carrying out his duties under `very heavy artillery and machine-gun fire`. He was awarded a second Bar for `conspicuous gallantry` at Péronne on 1-2 September 1918 and a third during the attack on the Hindenburg Line north of Bellicourt on 30 September.

At Bellicourt, Corey, who had been promoted corporal nine days earlier, was in charge of the battalion`s stretcher-bearers and, despite intense machine-gun and shell-fire, directed them with the utmost skill and bravery, regardless of personal danger. He attended to men and carried them from the most exposed positions` until he himself was severely wounded and evacuated. He returned to Australia on 30 April 1919.

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