Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
Labourer Herbert Creagh was born in the Sydney suburb of Redfern and attended both Auburn North and Auburn Public Schools. When he enlisted on 11 September 1915 at Liverpool, NSW, Creagh declared he was ’18 years 9 months’ old. He nominated his widower father, John Creagh of Dartbrook Road, Auburn, as his next-of-kin.
Private Creagh was in training camps in Australia for six months before embarking on the Star of England on 8 March 1916. On board, there were at least four other men from Auburn, blacksmith Robert Montgomery, grocer assistant Henry Hodgkinson, labourer Peter Myers and railway carriage builder Fredrick John Webber. Of this group of five, only Robert Montgomery survived the war.
Arriving in Egypt in April 1916, all five Auburn men were posted to battalions in the 5th Australian Division. They moved off with the rest of the division to the Western Front, disembarking in Marseilles on 29 June 1916. Less than 10 days after arriving in the Nursery Sector, the Fifth Australian Division was involved in the disastrous feint at Fromelles, 19-20 July 1916. Myers and Webber were killed in the action and Montgomery was taken prisoner. Casualties were so great, the division had to be rested and did not take part in the battles of Pozières.
Creagh survived Fromelles and remained on the Western Front until December 1916, when he was admitted to the Colchester General Hospital in England with Trench Feet. He returned to his unit, the 54th Battalion, on 12 April 1917. One month later he received a gunshot wound to the head during the Second Battle of Bullecourt. He died of wounds in N°29 Clearing Station on 18 May 1917 and he was buried in the Grevillers British Cemetery.
See: Roll of Honour: The Sydney Morning Herald, Sat. 9 June 1917, p12.
Herbert Creagh is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- Auburn North Public School Great War Roll of Honor
- Auburn Public School First World War Honour Roll
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal
- 1914-20 Victory Medal
