Victory Medal : Private W J Barry, 1st Battalion, Imperial Camel Corps

Victory Medal. Impressed around edge with recipient's details.

Born near Yass, New South Wales in 1893, William John Barry was employed as a teacher at Cootamundra when he enlisted in the AIF on 26 October 1915. After initial training he was assigned the service number 4059 and posted as a private to the 10th reinforcements for 20th Battalion, AIF. He sailed from Sydney for Egypt on 11 March 1916, aboard HMAT Orsova.

In May 1916 Barry was transferred to the 2nd Company of the 1st Imperial Camel Corps (Anzac) Battalion (1 ICC), which he referred to as the 'Charlie Chaplin' Light Horse. He specialised as a Lewis gunner.

During the Second Battle of Gaza, on 19 April 1917, 1 ICC's 2nd and 3rd Companies, a total of 200 men, including riflemen, six Lewis gunners, signallers and stretcher bearers, advanced to attack the strongly defended Turkish Tank Redoubt. Nearly half the men were killed or wounded before the Lewis gunners were positioned 50 yards to the right of the front line, causing heavy Turkish casualties. The remaining 100 men charged the Redoubt over 350 yards; 70 men fell and thirty reached the objective. Their arrival, behind a British tank named 'Nutty', which burst into flames, caused the retreat of 500 Turks. At this stage, the six Lewis gunners, still unwounded, were ordered to fire on the retreating Turks. The surviving Australians, supported by a small number of British troops, managed to hold the Redoubt for 2 hours, before a lack of reinforcements and the approach of fresh Turkish troops forced them to retreat in turn.

Barry's commanding officer, Lieutenant Archie Campbell, went personally to tell the Lewis gunners to evacuate and found all except Barry dead. Barry had sustained a bullet wound near his left elbow leaving the arm hanging useless. Campbell later recalled, "I told the wounded boy, Barry, to save his life as best he could. Barry asked, 'What about my gun, sir?'. I told him to leave it and save himself. He replied, 'I think I can carry it'; and he carried it out...'. For his actions that day Barry was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Barry was evacuated to hospital in Egypt but after three months still suffered from partial paralysis of his left arm and atrophy of the muscles above the elbow. He was considered fit for light duties only and did not return to the Camel Corps. He was transferred to No. 67 (Australian) Squadron, Royal Flying Corps in Palestine as a 2nd Air Mechanic, where he retrained as a motor cyclist despatch rider.

Barry returned to Australia in March 1919 and was discharged medically unfit. He returned to teaching for a number of years, this time at the small school at Faithfull in the New South Wales Riverina. He died from tuberculosis on 5 September 1925 and was given a military funeral at Yass.