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MURRAY VC HAD "GUTS"
'I knew he had 'guts' when I learnt that he had
dug a bullet out of his leg with a knife and doctored
it himself.'
This is a recollection of Lieut-Colonel Harry
Murray, V.C., C.M.G., D.S.O. (with bar), D.C.M. and
Croix de Guerre held by; Major General J. M. A.
Durrant, G.O.C. Western
Command.
It was mentioned today
by Major-General Durrant.
Murray's name and fame
were recently used in a
Palestine interview with
Lieut.-General Sir Thos.
Blarney as an example for
the new A.I.F.
Major-General Durrant's acquaint-
ance with Murray was first-hand.
He it was who secured Murray's
services for the 13th Battalion and
his promotion to commissioned rank.
Subsequently he was Commanding
Officer of the 13th Battalion, in which
Murray was a company commander
and personally recommended him for
the V.C. he received.
'TAKEN WITH HIM'
'Murray, a Tasmanian, enlisted in.
the 16th Battalion A.I.F. in Western,
Australia.' said Major-Genera] Dur-
rant. 'It was incorrectly stated that
he had no previous military training.
He had — in the militia, which is, of
course, the training ground of leaders.
'Murray was in the 16th machine
gun section. I met him first on Gal-
lipoli, where the 13th and 16th were
side by side.
'I saw Murray several times
and was greatly taken with him.
and got into conversation with
him eventually. I knew he had
'guts' when I learnt that he had
dug a bullet out of his leg with
a knife and doctored it himself.
'Why Murray had no commission
in his battalion I do not know. When
a vacancy occurred in the 13th for a
'NOT A MAD BULL'
machine gun officer we asked the
16th for Murray and got him. He was
appointed to the machine gun sec-
tion.
'Murray proved a splendid officer
as we had anticipated. He was brave
and thorough. He was not the mad
bull type to rush into danger and
carry through to the objective re-
gardless of losses.
'On the contrary, when given a iob
he planned quickly but carefully and
reconnoitred the ground thoroughly,
so that his jobs were always carried
out efficiently and with the absolute,
minimum of loss. His men knew this
and would follow him anywhere. He
never lacked volunteers in any enter-
prise.
'Sir Thomas mentions Murray as
a teetotaller and non-smoker during
his front-line career.
'MAD HARRY'
'Murray was not sufficiently tee-
total to refuse his share of the rum
issue. But he was temperate.
'I should also describe Murary as
highly-strung, rather than a man of
iron nerve, which suggests stolidity.
It was the former quality which made
him a quick thinker in times of dan-
ger and gave him his extraordinary
pnergy, resolution and courage. He
saw all the danger and provided
against it. He was a tactical genius.
'He was known to the men of
the battalion as 'Mad Harry,' but
there was considerable method in
his madness, as his record of pro-
motion and honours, one of the
most brilliant in the British and
Dominion forces, proves.
'His courage was not a reckless ex-
posure to danger like that of Jacka
and Sexton, who did not know fear.
His courage was or one deliberately
formed quality, derived from a fer-
vent loyalty, an earnest sense of
duty and a thorough confidence in
himself and his men and a firm be-
lief in the justice of his cause.
MILITIA COMMAND
'It was not so much the decorations
Murray won so deservedly that I
would have the present A.I.F. re-
member, but the inspiration he was
to those who -served with him.
'Today Murray commands a
battalion of the A.M.F. in Queens-
land and no man could be any-
thing but proud to be a fellow
member with him in the Austra-
lian military forces.'
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