User:Ben morphett/Valentine Stacy

Lieutenant Colonel Valentine Osborne Stacy (7 March 1882 – 11 May 1929), OBE was an Australian soldier and doctor. He was a World War I veteran, fighting as an ANZAC in Gallipoli, the Somme, Pozières, Passchendaele and Amiens.

Stacy was awarded the French Croix de Guerre on 6 November 1918. Stacy was mentioned in dispatches three times. He was awarded a OBE on 15 September 1919.

After the war, Stacy ...

Early life
Valentine Stacy was born in Mudgee, NSW, on 7 March 1882. He was the son of Beauchamp Stacy and Fannie Augusta Stacy. He attended the local grammar school.

Stacy studied medicine at the University of Sydney. Stacy wanted to go to South Africa to fight in the Boer War, but his parents insisted he stay in Sydney to finish his studies. He graduated with a M.B. in 1908. He practised as a ship's doctor, before joining a practise in 1911 as a GP in Boulder, Western Australia.

The war years
When war was declared he enlisted in the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital as a doctor. On 14 December 1914, he boarded the HMAT "Kyarra A55" in Fremantle for Egypt. He was 32 years old.

Gallipoli and Egypt
Stacy landed in Alexandria

France and the Western Front
At Stacy's funeral, it was reported:
 * It is related that on one occasion 3000 Australian wounded men passed through his hands within the short space of 24 hours. It was for this heroic act of endurance that he was made the recipient of the French Croix de Guerre.

His career as a medical practitioner
Upon his return from military service, ...

His death
Stacy's death was found to be the result of an accidental self-administered dose of morphine. Stacy's funeral was a major event in Kalgoorlie: the motorcade had 75-80 cars, and was 3/4 of a mile in length; local businesses shut for the duration; hundreds attended the grave side. The Last Post was played in the service.