Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

Three: Lance-Corporal D. McCarthy, Royal Munster Fusiliers, who was taken was taken prisoner of war at Etreux, the scene of his Battalion's epic rearguard action during the retreat from Mons, on 27 August 1914
1914 Star, with copy clasp (7555 L. Cpl. D. Mc.Carthy. R. Muns: Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (7555 Pte. D. Mc Carthy. R. Mun. Fus.) mounted court-style for wear, light contact marks, very fine

British War Medal 1914-20 (7449 Pte. T. Mc Carthy. R. Mun. Fus.) edge bruise, very fine

Six: C. W. McCarthy, Australian Imperial Forces
1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, 8th Army; Pacific Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Australia Service Medal, all officially impressed ‘SX9475 C. W. Mc.Carthy’, mounted court-style for wear, good very fine (10) £800-£1,000

Daniel McCarthy attested for the Royal Munster Fusiliers on 10 February 1904 and served with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 14 August 1914. The battalion moved forward to Mons where it was held in reserve for the fighting on 24 August. During the retreat, the 2nd Munsters occupied the position of honour as rearguard to the 1st Guards Brigade which, in turn, acted as rearguard for the 1st Division commanded by Major General Lomax. On the morning of Thursday 27 August 1914, the Irishmen, supported by two 18-pounders of the 118th Battery R.F.A. and a troop of the 15th Hussars, held the villages of Fesmy and Bergues, together with two important road junctions in that immediate area. Approaching them in an arc from North to East was an entire German Army Corps preceded by masses of cavalry and backed by an impressive array of artillery. Early in the afternoon, having inflicted savage casualties on 12 battalions of the German 2nd Guards' Reserve Division which had attacked Fesmy, the Munsters began to withdraw to the South to the village of Oisy, and on to Etreux. At 5.30pm the battalion was located at a crossroads just east of Oisy. Approaching the village of Oisy, the battalion came under heavy fire from the houses on the northern outskirts, followed by salvoes from eight German field guns positioned south-east of the village.
Now, for the first time, the Irishmen began to fall thick and fast and although the one remaining 18-pounder promptly came into action, its ammunition was nearly exhausted. After a series of desperate bayonet attacks, and with the artillerymen all dead and wounded about their gun, the gallant Munsters fell back to an orchard on the west of the road. Despite a further bayonet charge, at odds of fifty to one, which had temporarily held the enemy, the orchard was now ringed by Germans against whom the survivors, lining the four sides of the orchard,
made every shot count.
Ultimately, due to appalling casualties, lack of ammunition and the overwhelming superiority of enemy numbers, the survivors of the Battalion were compelled to surrender around 9pm. They had been fighting for 12 hours and their senior surviving officer was a Lieutenant but their sacrifice had ensured that Haig’s 1 Corps could continue unharassed on its way.
McCarthy was among those taken as prisoners of war and was held as a prisoner of war in Switzerland. Repatriated at the cessation of hostilities, he was discharged on 4 April 1919 and is entitled to a Silver Wound Badge No. B185379. He applied for a clasp to his 1914 Star on 29 March 1923 at which time he was living at 136 Hyde Road, Gorton, Manchester.

Timothy McCarthy attested for the Royal Munster Fusiliers and embarked for France with a reinforcement to the 2nd Battalion on 9 October 1914.

Charles Walter McCarthy was born at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, on 5 May 1911, and attested for the Australian Imperial Force in Adelaide on 20 June 1940. He was posted to the 3 reinforcement to the 2/10th Battalion A.I.F. on 5 November 1940 and embarked for Egypt on the S.S. Strathallan on 17 November 1940. He was wounded in action at Tobruk on 22nd May 1941 when a Company fighting patrol was sent into No Man's Land near Tobruk to clear White Knoll and harass enemy tanks was heavily engaged by shell and mortar fire resulting in McCarthy and seven others being wounded and one missing. He was subsequently largely in Australia during which period he was court martialed several times for being AWOL and related charges; he also appears numerous times in the South Australia Police Gazette which lists various offences. He was discharged on 25 May 1945 and died on 29 July 1963.

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