Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ernest Adam Gray was born sometime in May, 1883, and was a migrant from West Hartlepool in the county of Durham, England. He lived at 86 William St, Norwood, South Australia and was a married man; his spouse being Miss Elsie Gray. His religion was the Church of England and he worked as a butcher.

It was on the 28th of October, 1915, that Ernest, at the age of 32, decided to enlist for the army. The reason for his enlistment in the army is unclear, but common reasons for enlisting were wanting to fight for the country or being pressured by other people to join the army. He was enlisted as a private, designated to fight in the 8th Reinforcement of the 8th Machine Gun Company and was given the service number of 525. Private was the lowest ranking in the army, this rank was held by new recruits at Basic Combat Training.

Ernest’s journey as a private started when he went to train at the Machine Gun Depot in Seymour for two months, which was a training camp in Victoria. Then he was embarked from Melbourne on the H.M.A.T A7 Medic, on the 16th of December, 1916. This ship stopped at Plymouth, England, and from there he travelled by train to the Ludgershall Station. His unit undertook a short one mile march from this station to Perham Downs for further training. Perham Downs, also known as Perishing Down, was an overseas training brigade for the Australian Imperial Force with firing ranges and camps. It was called Perishing Downs, as marquees that soldiers slept in would be blown away at night by the strong gales. The training camp was described by another soldier as ‘bleak’ and being ill-sited, with no vegetation.

After training in Perham Downs, Ernest’s reinforcement marched in to Belton Park in Grantham, Lincolnshire. He had to train at this training base, specifically for Machine Gun Corps, before leaving to France. At this base, training was described as very intensive. Only accelerated men who had intelligence and physical fitness to handle the equipment participating in this training.

Shortly after two months of training at Belton Park, Ernest travelled overseas to France for battle. On Ernest’s trip to France, he passed through the Folkestone Harbour. This was a location where millions of troops who were about to serve on the Western Front stopped by. When Ernest arrived in Bapaume, France, he was attached to the Machine Gun Training Depot.

His unit made their way to Racquinghem to train. His trainings at Racquinghem were very physical; with gas drills, rifle exercises and bombing courses.  These courses were to prepare them for battle when gases and bombs would be a danger to the front line. Ernest trained in Racquinghem for 5 weeks before his unit took a bus to Chateau Segard, Belgium.

He camped at Chateau Segard for 5 days before shifting to the James Trench to prepare for his upcoming battle, the Battle of Menin Road. This battle began on the 20th of September,1917, ending on the 25th of September 1917. It was located on Menin Road Ridge on the Western Front and was a part of the Third Battle of Ypres. In this battle, the British and Australian Armies were fighting the German Empire to try and overtake the curving ridge that crossed the Menin Road, east of Ypres. The British and Anzacs were successful along its whole front line, as they overcame the German’s counter-attacks and their advanced troops were also able to overtake the Germans in defensive positions. Overall, the AIF experienced 5,013 casualties in this battle but were victorious in this battle.

Ernest fought in this battle, by helping to fire the machine guns with the other operators in the front line. It was not till the last day of the battle, the 25th of September 1917, that Ernest experienced a casualty. He took a gunshot to his abdomen; it was classified as a mild wound.

He was embarked 11 days later, to 5th General Hospital in Rouen, France, for wound treatment. Ernest changed hospitals a few times before ending up in the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Dartford, England.

Shortly after Ernest was discharged from that hospital, he joined the No 2. Command Depot in Weymouth. This depot was known for taking in men who were not stably fit, due to wounds or illnesses. After semi-recovering from his wound, Ernest travelled to Longbridge Deverill and Sutton Veny. Longbridge Deverill was the new location for the Overseas Training Brigade and Sutton Veny was an army camp. He moved here to start training again for his return to his active service, being newly designated to fight in the 5th Machine Gun Battalion.

Due to his wound, Ernest moved to the Reserve Brigade Australian Artillery to train as a solder that would be working far beyond the range and not in the front line as he was not medically fit. As the war ended in November 1918, Ernest had to stay in this training depot to wait for some type of transport back to Australia. He ended up not fighting in any other battles and returned to Australia on the 9th of March 1919 from England. At the end of his journey, his total service in the army was 3 years and 242 days.

Information about Ernest’s life after he returned from the war and about his death is unclear.

Ernest was rewarded for his service with the 1914/1915 star, which he received for enlisting in the early years of the war. He also received a British War Medal for his service overseas and in his service in the war. The final medal he received was the Victory medal, which was a commemoration of the victory of the Allied Forces winning over the Central Powers.

Ernest showed true Anzac Spirit as he put himself in danger by fighting for his country and ended up wounding himself. He was willing to sacrifice his own life to help Australia win the war and showed great courage for being on the battlefield.

Bibliography

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