Blay, George Harry

411 Lance Corporal George Harry Blay - 11th Battalion AIF

George Harry Blay was born in Deal Kent England on the 9th February 1890 to George and Ellen Blay. He had eight siblings. While he was still young he moved to Western Australia in 1911 and took up residence at 220 Mandurah Road South Fremantle. Prior to the Great War George was working as a storeman at J&W Batemans in Fremantle.

While he was a teenager in England George had seen three years of service with the Royal Berkshire Regiment. George enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force on the 8th September 1914. He was accepted as fit for service with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;

Height - 5 feet 9 inches tall;

Weight - 135lbs

Chest Measurement - 35 & 1/2 inches;

Complexion - Fair;

Eyes - Brown;

Hair - Dark.

After his successful enlistment George was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp and was assigned to the 11th Battalion.

He trained with his battalion in WA until the end of October 1914. They then received their orders to depart and so packed up camp at Blackboy Hill and entrained for Fremantle where they boarded H.M.A.T. “Ascanius” on the 31st October 1914. The ship then moored in Gage Roads and departed on the 2^nd November 1914.

After arriving in Egypt in early December 1914 the men were disembarked and sent to camp at Mena near Cairo. George was a member of B Company of the 11th Battalion and also took part in the famous photo of the 11th Battalion on the pyramid. George wrote of his time in Egypt;

January 6^th: We are having a real Egyptian sandstorm. You cannot see a yard, sand everywhere and cuts like H---. We have to cover rifle magazines with old socks and plug the barrel but still it gives hours of work cleaning out the sand. We packed rifles and kits on the ground and in a short while we had to dig them out of feet of sand...

February 5^th: We have a swarm of locusts, they are everywhere about 3” long they hurt if they hit an unprotected part and they hit the tents like a stone…Reported sick, bad cold. Can’t enjoy a smoke; taste rotten.

February 12^th: More fighting on Canal, Turks repulsed. Again we march to Tigers tooth and mock battle before French, Russian and English officers. Some reinforcements joined battalion tonight.

February 13^th: Some of our Engineers returned from Suez Canal bringing back some of our pontoon boats riddled with Turks bullets.

The 11^th Battalion remained in Egypt until early March 1915 when they were shipped off to Lemnos Island, off the coast of Turkey. A further six weeks training took place here in preparation for a landing on the Turkish coast. At this time George was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal. George wrote of his time on Lemnos;

March 6^th: Still more troopships arriving, amongst them some Indian and French troops. No shore leave allowed yet.

March 7^th: Some of the marines who have been at the Dardanelles told us of their experiences. They landed to put the guns out of action after the warships bombarded the forts. They had picked wildflowers on the slopes of Cape Helles.

March 8^th: At last we are able to stretch our legs. We go ashore for a route march. There is not much to see, only a few inhabitants who are Greek peasants very primitive and shy. Where we went ashore is a village of one road with a few stone shacks huddled close together. The main building is the church and the head of the community is the priest who saluted us on landing. They were the Greek national dress, very quaint and they look clean and healthy.

March 9^th: Again went ashore for a march, it is very hard marching on these rough and hilly roads.

March 23^rd: We have been addressed by our colonel to the effect that the 3^rd Brigade have been picked out of all the troops to do the job of Landing. 9^th, 10^th and 11^th Battalions a great honour and expect only a few would come out of it.

April 22^nd: Went aboard HMS Chelmer (Destroyer) to practice landing exercises. I am promoted to Lance Corporal.

April 23^rd: Issued with 200 rounds of ammunition, 3 days rations, sandbags etc. with all equipment we are like pack horses.

April 24^th: Well we are on the move again, sailed for the Dardanelles 2pm, we are escorted by two destroyers, arrived at Island of Imbros at 6p.m. Imbros is only 6 miles from Peninsula. We are laying about on deck with all our gear on ready for a move any time, don’t think it will be long now. The boat is in total darkness.

As part of the 3^rd Brigade the 11^th Battalion had been chosen to make the initial assault. In the evening of the 24^th April the transport ships left Lemnos and made their way to Gallipoli.

The 11^th Battalion landed early in the morning of April 25^th at what is now known as North Beach. The men made their way inland up the ridge between Plugges Plateau and Russel’s Top. George penned the following;

At 2am we go aboard the destroyer HMS Chelmer we steam slowly, hardly moving, in the meantime sailors come around quietly giving us hot cocoa, biscuits & cheese, no smoking allowed, everything so quiet. Orders are passed along in whispers, then in the darkness we are told to man the life boats (or whalers) these were lashed alongside to planks fixed out from shipsides, each one has a sailor or midshipman as coxswain, we pack in like sardines before we are all loaded. A shot is fired from shore at us & the first shot fired we shall never forget it broke the tense spell, also killed Pte Williams…Anyhow we pushed off towards shore, we could only just sight a little darker than the sky & then the fire from rifles & machine guns became general from the shore, we had to run the gauntlet all the way until the boats grounded…when we jumped out of the boats we were up to the armpits in water as the boats were so heavy laden they were only the gunwale above water, we had to scramble over the beach to cover, which was a ridge about 8 inches high which the high tide had made with sand...We fixed bayonets & run up the steep rising land, the firing was thick & heavy, men were falling everywhere. I got a bullet through the right leg of my pants just below the groin which left a red burn on my thigh for weeks. I was lucky…We charge up the steep hills in fact cliffs, many of us don’t remember getting up to the top. In my case we had to help each other up the last 20 feet with rifles and catching on grass and roots. We could hear the Turks retiring through the scrub which was just enough to cover a man standing. We ran into snipers planted under bushes just after reaching the top. We found Colonel Clarke shot through the mouth as he was advancing up a narrow track so we held out a hat on a rifle around the bend in the path the draw the fire of this sniper, then surrounded his lair and we all fired at him & he came out with his hands up, he had 3 rifles, plenty of ammunition. He cried for water, but we could not take prisoners so he was shot. He had accounted for 5 or 6 of us. We push on, all battalions mixed together, occasionally we see some Turks and give them a few rounds rapid. We passed their trenches overlooking the beach and understand what we had to face and consider how lucky we are to be alive...We had a fairly easy lark for some time until we reach the farthest point the Australian & NZ Corps reached, that was in the view in the distance of the water of the Sea of Marmara, glinting in the sun. We line a ridge with a deep valley before another ridge about ½ mile away. Here I fell asleep and was rudely awakened by our bugler, he shook me and said he thought I was shot. We could see a number of Turks with guns being brought into position directed by an officer on a white horse. In a few minutes they opened fire and we had to rise and make for cover. Every other man was hit, some were terrible to see. They were firing shrapnel and they were covering the ground, systematically searching us out of the scrub and under cover of this fire the Turks were advancing on us so we had orders to retire, the casualties were very heavy and here many of our men were cut off…We could hear but not see the Turks coming through the scrub firing as they came and we were weak in numbers, we could not offer much resistance, we were yards apart, just a thin line in fact. We kept retiring slowly holding them when we could see any distance until at last we reached the remainder of the division who were digging in a line of resistance. The so called trenches were only a few inches of soil scratched up with our entrenching tools we carry and the soil heaped up in front...The Turks repeat attack after attack, we hold our fire until they are half way up the slopes then give them rapid fire and down they go. In the meantime the warships are firing shells continuously and doing much damage and helping us tremendously. It is a sight never forgotten when their shells burst to see tons of earth go up high into the air...There are enemy snipers all over the place behind us hidden and we have not enough men to spare to hunt them out and they do a lot of harm. We keep hanging on to our positions repulsing attack after attack day & night until April 30^th when we are relieved.

The Battalion gathered together on the beach and the roll call was held on May 2nd. The 11th Battalion attempted a raid on Turkish positions up the coast but George did not take part in it but he observed it from the trenches at Anzac.

We get 24 hours out of the front trenches into dugouts at the beach, but are safer in the front trenches, there is not a square yard on the territory we hold that is not under enemy fire. 100 men of the 11^th Battalion are to make a fresh landing at Gaba Tepe. They go aboard boats and land in front of the forts. The attack was a failure, they had to retire with heavy casualties, the Turks allowed them to go without firing a shot at them.

George had so far lived a charmed life at Anzac and he continued to serve with the 11th Battalion over the next four months. After surviving the action at Leanes Trench in July/August 1915 George was promoted to the temporary rank of Sergeant, but four days later he was evacuated ill. It appears his health was affected when he was blown up by a Turkish shell. He was not wounded but was concussed.

He was sent to the 2nd Field Ambulance where the doctor identified an issue with George's heart rate. He was then transferred to the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station on Mudros. The issue with George's heart appeared to be serious as on the 19th August 1915 he was sent aboard the transport ship HMAT Ulysses for the journey back to Egypt.

George was then admitted to the 2nd Australian General Hospital and spent the next several weeks here. While here George learned that the temporary rank of Sergeant was withdrawn and he was again a Lance Corporal.

While in hospital George underwent several medical tests and it was decided to send him back to Australia. He left Egypt aboard the Hospital Ship Karoola on the 4th November 1915 and arrived back in Fremantle on the 4th December 1915.

George was then given another medical examination at No.8 Australian General Hospital in South Terrace Fremantle. On his return home George lived at 21 Grey Street Fremantle.

George was officially discharged from the AIF on the 15th September 1916. From the 16th September 1916 George was granted a pension of 45/- per fortnight.

He returned to his pre war occupation of Storeman, initially with J&W Batemans but after a few years he went to work for Gibbs Bright & Co in Fremantle.

On 2nd June 1917 George married Doris Willey at St Paul's Church in Beaconsfield. They had a son Neville born in South Fremantle in 1918 and Kenneth born in North Fremantle in 1921.

It appears the war had a definite effect on George's Health as his repat file his full of requests of assistance due to ill health caused by his war service.

In the 1930's the Blay family were living in Hammand Street Palmyra.

Despite his poor health when World War Two began, George again offered his services. He was accepted as fit to serve within Australia. (W31601). From 1940 he served with 'Y' Company of the 5th Garrison Battalion and then the 1st Battalion of the Volunteer Defence Corps. He was discharged in 1945.

In the 1940's they were living at 66 Irwin Street East Fremantle.

George Blay died on the 13th June 1959 at Fremantle Hospital aged 69. He is buried in Fremantle Cemetery Plot Anglican MonA4 0045.