Smoke Concert. Tendered by Napier Borough Council and Citizens of Napier, to Capt. P.V. Storkey VC. Municipal Theatre, Napier. Thursday, January 30th, 1919 ...
Napier, Venables Print (for Napier Borough Council), 1919.
A card bifolium (167 × 106 mm), comprising the list of invited guests on the front cover, the Toast List, a small mounted gelatin silver portrait photograph of Storkey (by 'Iliad' of Napier), and the colour-pictorial title at the rear (surely a printer's error of some magnitude, but discovered too late to do anything about it!).
Trifling signs of age and use; in excellent condition.
Napier-born Percy Valentine Storkey (1893-1969) has signed the card above his portrait: 'P.V. Storkey Capt. 19th Bn. AIF'. Signatures of the mayor, H. Hill, and two others are also present. 'On 7 April 1918 the 5th Brigade, of which the 19th Battalion formed part, was assigned to clear the area north of Hangard Wood, near Villers-Bretonneux. Intelligence had inaccurately reported that the wood was "lightly held". The attacking company of the 19th, whose men were tired, lay down at the starting line at dawn. Storkey, who was second-in-command, fell asleep and his company left without him; it had advanced about eighty yards (73 m) when he woke. He caught up with his men only to go through heavy machine-gun fire which had hit 25 per cent of them even before the company's leading groups reached the edge of the wood. Captain Wallach, the company commander, was shot in both knees and Storkey took over, leading six men through head-high saplings to get behind the German machine-gun force. Together with another officer and four men, they broke into a clearing behind several trenches from where the Germans were firing at the rest of Storkey's company. One of the Australians yelled when he saw the enemy, some of whom looked around. For both sides it was attack or perish. Storkey instantly headed the charge, engaging the nearest Germans before they had fully reacted. His party killed or wounded thirty of them and the survivors - comprising over fifty men - surrendered. Storkey's confident and determined leadership had given the impression that he led a larger force than the handful visible to the Germans. He was awarded the Victoria Cross. He was later again wounded in action and in May promoted captain; he returned to Australia in November and his AIF appointment ended in January 1919' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). He had arrived in NSW in 1911; he returned there after the war, studied law, and eventually became a district court judge. He bequeathed his Victoria Cross to his old school at Napier.
Item #121020
Price (AUD):
$500.00