GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY 89
A Great War 1917 ‘Ypres’ M.M. group of four awarded to Sergeant, later Lieutenant, J. H. Ferguson, 2nd Australian Pioneer Battalion, Australian Imperial Force
MILITARY MEDAL, G.V.R. (795 Sjt: J. H. Ferguson. 2/Aust: Pnr: Bn:); 1914-15 STAR (795 Pte. J. H. Ferguson 27/Bn. A.I.F.); BRITISHWAR AND VICTORYMEDALS (Lieut. J. H. Ferguson. A.I.F.), with a silver prize shield, hallmarks for Birmingham 1908, obverse engraved ‘J. H. F.’, light contact marks overall, therefore very fine or better (4)
£700-900 M.M. London Gazette 12 December 1917. The original recommendation states:
‘At 10.30am on 19th September a party under Lieutenant T. Smith was constructing a road east of Bellwaard Lake. The party was subjected to prolonged shelling by big guns, falling very heavy at times. Lieutenant Smith had to be removed wounded and the Sergeant [Ferguson] took charge. By his cool leadership he directed the men and kept them steadily working despite casualties and also attended to the wounded. His actions ensured steady progress on a most important work that had to be finished that day.’
Recommended (unsuccessfully) for the M.S.M., 3 October 1916: ‘Consistently good work and devotion to duty since the Battalion was formed in March.’
J. H. Ferguson was born in Gawler, South Australia, in 1892. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Keswick, South Australia on 26 February 1915, and was posted to the 2nd Australian Pioneer Battalion. He served with the Battalion in Gallipoli, before serving in the French theatre of war as part of the 2nd Australian Division from May 1916.
Ferguson served with the Battalion at Ypres, and was awarded his M.M. for gallantry in operations in and around Bellwaard Lake, 19 September 1917. The battalion’s War Diary lists 1 Officer and 1 other rank killed and 1 Officer and 7 other ranks wounded whilst the new road near Bellwaard Lake was constructed.
On 5 November 1918, Ferguson was commissioned Second Lieutenant, and he returned to Australia in H.M.A.T Warwickshire 5 April 1919.
90
A Great War 1917 ‘Ypres’ M.M. group of three awarded to Sergeant H. R. Mayberry, 6th Australian Field Artillery Brigade, Australian Imperial Force, for keeping lines of communication open between Infantry and Artillery lines around Hooge, during six hours of heavy shelling, and despite being partially buried as consequence of aeroplane bomb
MILITARYMEDAL, G.V.R. (8425 Sapr. H. R. Mayberry. 6/A. Bde: Aust: F.A.); BRITISHWAR ANDVICTORYMEDALS (8425 T-Sjt. H. R. Mayberry. 6 F.A.B. A.I.F.) light contact marks overall, therefore very fine (3)
£700-900 M.M. London Gazette 12 December 1917. The original recommendation states:
‘On the 25th September 1917, at Hooge, the enemy which had attacked our lines, was shelling the valley between Hooge and Halfway House very heavily. For six hours these two men [Mayberry and Sapper P. M. Coghlan] worked backwards and forwards on the line between the artillery and the infantry, in this valley, being almost continuously under shell fire and in endeavouring to keep the line in action narrowly escaped with their lives. They were on one occasion partly buried by an aeroplane bomb but continued with their work and eventually finding it impossible to keep the line in repair reported at the Infantry Headquarters and brought in by hand from the Liaison Officer an important despatch through the heavy fire which was then existing. Their conduct throughout was an excellent example of courage and determination.’
H. R. Mayberry was born in California Gully, Bendigo, Australia, in 1894. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in the town of his birth on 16 July 1915. He initially went to Egypt in May 1916, and then on to the UK in August of the same year. He served with the 6th Australian Field Artillery Brigade in the French theatre of war, and was awarded his M.M. for gallantry in operations in and around Hooge, 25 September 1917. The unit’s War Diary for the latter date gives the German artillery barrage as ‘hostile artillery extremely active. 112C 118A shelled with gas in the early morning. During the day the enemy actively shelled over all our font with guns of all calibre and with apparent aerial observation.’ It also lists the full citations for Mayberry and Coghlan’s M.M.s.
Mayberry returned to Australia in H.M.A.T. Borda, and was discharged 11 August 1919.
91
A Great War M.M. group of three awarded to Gunner W. F. Kearsey, Royal Field Artillery
MILITARY MEDAL, G.V.R. (815175 Gnr: W. F. Kearsey. D. 269/Bde: R.F.A.–T.F.); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (815175 Gnr. W. F. Kearsey. R.A.) good very fine and better (3)
£240-280 M.M. London Gazette 19 March 1918 (Birmingham).
William Francis Kearsey was born in Birmingham in 1897 and attested there for the Royal Field Artillery. He served during the Great War on the Western Front with ‘D’ (Howitzer) Battery, 269th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, and was awarded the M.M. in March 1918. He died in King’s Norton, Worcestershire, in 1923.
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