Stanley Hector Bailey
Stephen LearmonthStanley Bailey was born in 1890, one of eleven children of William and Catherine (née Fraser) of Corryong. After attending school at nearby Colac Colac, he worked as a farmer in the Upper Murray District.
He enlisted in the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) at Tallangatta on the 26th of April, 1916, and underwent training at Seymour Camp. He embarked on the RMS Orontes at Port Melbourne on the 16th of August of that year, bound for the training camps in England with the reinforcements to the newly raised 37th Battalion. The Orontes arrived at Plymouth on the 2nd of October. Stanley spent two weeks with the 8th Training Battalion before being taken on strength with the 37th Battalion.
The battalion arrived in France in November 1916, where it spent the following winter in the relatively quiet Houplines sector near Armentieres. Stanley would spend Christmas and New Year in the 7th General Hospital at St Omer, suffering a case of the mumps. He would not rejoin the battalion until the 12th of January. Whilst in this sector, the battalion patrolled no man’s land and was involved in conducting trench raids on the German positions. These were done to harass the enemy and identify German units for purposes of intelligence, as well as to maintain morale among the troops.
On the night of the 28th of January, troops from the 10th Brigade raided the German trenches opposite the hamlet of Port Ballot. Among the party of 8 officers and 216 men were 50 men of the 37th Battalion. The raid was launched at 6 pm with the right flank party being drawn entirely from the 37th and led by Lieutenant Parker. They found that the artillery had failed to cut the thick belts of barbed wire in front of the enemy positions. German troops opened fire with machine guns, inflicting a devastating toll on the raiding party with all but five of its 32 members immediately knocked out. The party was forced to retire. Among the casualties was Private Stanley Bailey, who was severely wounded in the left shoulder. He was evacuated to the 10th Australian Field Ambulance where he died at 4 am the following morning. Stanley was buried at the nearby Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery at Armentieres.
Stanley is also remembered at the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, the Colac Colac School Roll of Honour and the Corryong War Memorial. For his service, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
