PERSONAL.
At Dunedin on Saturday Sir Jas. Allen presented war decorations to a certain number of men. The D.C.M. was presented to Private M. Healey, brother of Mr J. Healey, Waimate. -Waimate Daily Advertiser, 22/7/1919.
DEATHS
HEALEY. — On August 22, 1928, at Dunedin Hospital, Rifleman M. Healey, 24/186, D.C.M., dearly beloved son of the late Thomas and Mary Healey, of South Dunedin; aged 46 years. R.I.P. Requiem Mass at St. Patrick’s Basilica To-morrow (Friday), August 24, at 9 a.m. — The Funeral will leave St. Patrick’s Basilica To-morrow (Friday), at 2 p.m., for the Anderson’s Bay Cemetery. — W. H. Cole, undertaker. -Evening Star, 23/8/1928.
PASSING OF A SOLDIER.
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE.
RIFLEMAN M. HEALEY, D.C.M.
The constantly-recurring anniversaries of the outbreak of the Great War and the few days of national mourning that have found their way on to the calendar as the result of that terrible period are about the only reminders the average person has of the days when civilisation seemed to be tottering. Almost a decade and a-half has elapsed since the world was plunged into the awful holocaust that raged in Europe for four years, but the rising generation knows little of those stressful times. Reminders, pathetic and moving, crop up from time to time, however, and provide food for serious reflection.
Such a one is provided in the announcement of the death at the Dunedin Hospital on Wednesday of Rifleman Maurice Healey, 24/186, D.C.M., at the age of 46 years. Thousands of men who fell in the war have been revered for having paid the supreme sacrifice, but the circumstances surrounding the death of this soldier hint the question whether, after all, death in action in the thick of battle is really the great sacrifice. For three years Rifleman Healey served in the New Zealand Rifle Brigade on various fronts with conspicuous gallantry, being wounded on more than one occasion, but always returning to the seat of war. The Armistice came, and in due course he was invalided home, a physical wreck, unable ever again to resume his pre-war life and occupation — a gallant man doomed to a living death in soldiers' hospitals the Dominion. For 10 years he struggled with the weakness and infirmity that were his heritage from the war. His family and those of the medical profession who attended him during that long period of suffering mention with praise the indomitable courage and will to live that urged him in his fight against Nature. And after 10 long years of suffering he paid what must be accounted the greatest sacrifice of all.
His conduct in France earned him a decoration in the form of the Distinguished Conduct Medal. How this was won is best described in the following extract from the fifth supplement to the London Gazette, dated January 14, 1919:
“His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal to the under-mentioned private for gallantry and distinguished service in the field: —
“24/186, Private M. Healey, N.Z. Rifle Brigade. For most conspicuous gallantry during the attack on the enemy positions near Gouzeaucourt on September 12, 1918.
“He was one of a patrol which pushed on after the capture of the objective to the position held by the enemy support company, 800 yards in front of our line. During the attack on the enemy support company he was placed in a most dangerous position, where, though isolated from the rest of the patrol, he carried on the fight alone, killing 10 of the enemy with bayonet and bullet and wounding an officer who appeared to be of high rank.
“His fine work was largely responsible for the surrender of those of the enemy company alive.”
Mr Healey is survived by two sisters and a brother, all of whom are resident in Dunedin. On their shoulders fell the burden of caring for the frail piece of humanity that is only one of hundreds of similar tragedies of the World War. Since his return to New Zealand the late Mr Healey had been a patient in practically every soldiers’ hospital and convalescent home in the Dominion, and for a long period he was an inmate of the Montecillo Home. -Otago Daily Times, 24/8/1928.
MRS HEALEY and Brothers desire to Thank the Matron and Nursing Staff of the Dunedin Hospital and Montecillo Soldiers’ Convalescent Home; also the medical profession, for their kind and unfailing attention to our late brother, Rifleman Maurice Healey, D.C.M., during his long and painful illness, and to all who sent expressions of sympathy and floral tributes. -Otago Daily Times, 31/8/1928.
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