Norbert McCrory was born on 24 January 1892 in Sydney, N.S.W. He was the fourth in a family of three brothers and two sisters. Before the war he had been employed as a gantry attendant by the Government Railways at Darling Islands (now Darling Harbour). Norbert joined the Royal Australian Navy as an Officers Steward in 1911 and purchased his discharge from the Navy in 1912.
When the First World War broke out, Norbert enlisted with the Royal Australian Navy Bridging Train and embarked on HMAT SS Makarini on 10 September 1915 as an Able Bodied Driver serving at Suvla, Gallipoli Peninsula and in the Sinai. Norbert served as a Bombardier when he was transferred into the Australian Imperial Force in France. Then at his own request he was allowed to a transfer to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in September 1917. Norbert joined HMAS Australia, operating with the Royal Navy in the North Sea.
Norbert was one of the Australian stokers chosen from volunteers to take part in the raid on the German port of Zeebrugge in April 1918 in an attempt to block German submarines. He was on board HMS Thetis which was sunk as a block ship in the Bruges Canal. Although the raid achieved limited success in blocking the harbour, Norbert was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery during the attack and was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre in September 1921 for the same action. He continued to serve with the RAN after the war and was discharged in 1922 with the rank of Leading Stoker.
Norbert never married and was living at Randwick, NSW when he died of chronic myocarditis and arterio-sclerosis on 23 December 1944.