War - Ww1 Vc - Tasmania - Henry William 'harry' Murray Vc, Cmg, Dso& Bar, Dcm, Known As 'mad Harry' Poem by Paul Warren

Harry Murray was born in Launceton, Tasmania and heard the call
For enlistment in the Australian Imperial Force in the Great War brawl
He had made a life as a farmer, timber cutter and courier
And now is described as the most decorated Great War British Empire soldier

He was at The Landing on the 25 April 1915 as a machine gunner
And won the Distinguished Conduct Medal on this peninsula
A wounded leg laid him low but still went to the Western Front war
With the rest of his battalion and would distinguish himself even more

In the Battle of the Somme as a junior officer he was again decorated
With a Distinguished Service Order leading his men as the war blood was not sated
In February 1917 he led a company in a Stormy Trench attack and counterattacks
Leading in bayonet thrusts and bombing crews winning a Victoria Cross as a fact

He won a bar to his DSO in an attack on the Hindenburg Line near Bullecourt
Promoted to lieutenant colonel leading the 4th Machine-gun Battalion to the end he fought
He went back to Australia in 1920 settling in Queensland to a Grazing Property
Until the Second World War was declared where he went back in the army
As the officer in charge of the 26th Militia Battalion he did his duty then
To 1944 when he was not needed and his military career did end

This great soldier came twice to his country's call
Being prepared to do his best and to give his all
In the end he died in a car accident at 85 years in 1966
We remember him now lest we forget in one of glory's picks.

© Paul Warren Poetry