BARRY, George

The tragedy in this story is not just the death of a fit 29 year old man, only one week after he had reached the front, but also of the family he left behind. George Barry was a false name, one adopted by Morgan Augustine John Fay, who enlisted on 15 November, 1917. He was a clerk, single and gave as his next of kin his aunt, Miss Benedicta McDonnell, although he had a closer relative, his mother, Mrs. Frances Marie Fay, living at 'Willara', 38 Albert St., East Melbourne.

George Barry began training at Broadmeadows on 19 November,1917, at Broadmeadows and then embarked on the A38 Ulysses for Suez. Here he disembarked and underwent more training, arriving on 16 January, 1918, and then leaving Suez on 24 January on board the H.M.T. Leasowe Castle for Southampton. From Southampton, he was sent on 31 March, 1918,  to join the 10th Training Battalion, then the 9th Training Battalion. He went AWL for a day  from 14-15 May and was sentenced to 4 days Field Duty and the forfeiture of 6 days' pay.

On 19 May, he was sent to France to join the 38th Battalion, then fighting on the Western Front. He marched in from Rouelles, and then on to the front, being taken on strength on 1 June, 1918. On 9 June, he was killed in action and buried the next day at Villers Brettoneux, the Adelaide British Cemetery at Corbie, Plot 1, Row A. Four witnesses described his death, all with slightly different recollections. Private D. Scott, 38th Battalion, wrote 'Casualty was in the advance at Villers Brettoneux. He was in no-man's land digging new trenches. An H.E. shell exploded nearby. A piece entered his body mortally wounding him.' Sergeant H. B. Hicks, 38th Battalion gave a more complete version;" Casualty was in a working party at Villers-Brettoneux ... he had taken off his coat to work more freely when he was hit by a machine gun bullet which entered his left breast over the heart and killed him instantly. I placed my hand over his mouth to stop the sounds of moaning as the Germans were very near to us.'

With his will, Private Barry left a sworn statement admitting to his false name and identifying himself as Morgan Augustus John Fay. His will read 'I given and bequeath to my Aunt and foster-mother (Miss) Benedicta McDonnell ... all the property, real and personal, vested in me at the time of my decease.' In the event of Miss McDonnell pre-deceasing him, his will nominates his brother Patrick Alphonsus Fay, also enlisted, as his beneficiary. His mother is not mentioned. Interestingly, Miss McDonnell was his mother's twin sister.

What caused the rift with his mother which led him to change his name, declare himself an orphan, change his religion from Roman Catholic to Church of England, and leave Australia without a word to her? There is no indication of his reasons, but  his mother was so distressed that she wrote a three page letter to the army, asking for her son's possessions: 'I was in Sydney for nearly eighteen months housekeeping for another son and it was shortly before my return here that my son Morgan enlisted. There was not any quarrel between my deceased son, but my going to Sydney upset him much. I certainly feel it my right to have any little thing belonging to my boy, just for the reason that theye were handled by him. Not even the poor comfort of a line of condolence or particulars of his death have been sent to me his fond mother but in keeping with untruthful statements - to the aunt who swore to be his foster mother.'

Morgan Augustine John Fay's name is listed on Panel 129 in the Commemorative Area of the Australian War Memorial.