CORPSE, Henry Ernest
| Service Number: | 1021 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 March 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Light Trench Mortar Batteries |
| Born: | Armidale, New South Wales, Australia, 13 February 1890 |
| Home Town: | Dorrigo, Bellingen, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | 1973, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1021, Light Trench Mortar Batteries | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Sep 1916: | Involvement Private, 1021, Light Trench Mortar Batteries, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '4' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
| 9 Sep 1916: | Embarked Private, 1021, Light Trench Mortar Batteries, HMAT Euripides, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
His parents were Thomas Henry and Ada Derwent Corpse. The father, Thomas Henry Corpse was one of the pioneer settlers of the Dorrigo plateau. Dorrigo is about 60 kilometres inland from Coffs Harbour and is situated on an escarpment at a height of 730 meters. Their three eldest sons enlisted in the Great War.
Harry Corpse was taken on strength of the 1st Battalion on 2 May 1917 and was wounded 2 days later. He was treated in France for shrapnel wounds to his right and hip and it was 3 months before he returned to his battalion. He was slightly wounded again in May 1918 but only out of action for 10 days. For his actions on the 23 August 1918 he was awarded a Military Medal, for acting as a runner for many hours under extremely heavy machine gun and rifle fire. In a letter home to his parents, Harry told of his experience,
‘…It was mostly machine gun fire we had to face. It was the worst I have ever faced. Another chap and I were company runners. We had to carry all messages from our company to battalion headquarters. About half an hour after we started, we reached our first objective. When we had gone about a thousand yards we had to lay down and wait for our artillery to lift. It was a creeping barrage, and we followed it up, about fifteen yards behind. While we were waiting, six of us got together and were talking about things, and how the battle was going, when a shell fell in the middle of us, killing two and wounding two. The other runner was wounded so I was left to do all the running myself. I don't know how I came out of it alive. Three times I had to go back to headquarters with messages under heavy machine gun and artillery fire. I was gassed on my third trip — a gas shell covering me up. They all say I had nine lives that day.’
Harry was gassed that day and was treated for gas poisoning at Rouen in France. He rejoined his Battalion in France during October 1918. He caught influenza in France during February 1919 and was listed as dangerously ill for a time before he was evacuated to England 6 March 1919.
Harry made a quick recovery, marrying 26 years old Eleanor Lydia Thompson in Wapping England on 29 March 1919. He returned to Australia with his new wife during July 1919.
Harry’s wounds badly affected him later in life and it was reported in the Dorrigo Gazette during 1947, ‘One of the sub-branch's first members after its inauguration and always an active member, Henry Corpse has left the district. Henry has suffered severely from gas and war wounds over the past 32 years, and has been a patient of military hospitals on and off ever since. This old veteran of the 1st Battalion, was twice wounded and once gassed. We all join in wishing Digger Corpse and Mrs. Corpse every success in their new surroundings at Arncliffe.’
Harry had one son and passed away in 1973.
His brother, Frederick Corpse, died of meningitis in the Liverpool Camp 7 August 1915, and another brother 226 Cpl. Arthur Herbert Corpse, 36th Battalion AIF, was killed in action in France 5 April 1918, age 23. Another much younger brother, NX11172 Private Albert Corpse, enlisted for WW2 by reducing his age to be let into the Army. He was captured in Crete and was a Prisoner of War in Austria for 4½ years before returning home.