Lot 5195

Description

Pair to AFC: British War Medal 1914-18; Victory Medal 1914-19. 569 Cpl. E.J.Mc Carty. A.F.C. A.I.F. on first medal, 569 Cpl. E.J.McCarthy. A.F.C. A.I.F. (note misspelling of surname, should be McCarty). Both medals impressed. Court mounted, cleaned, otherwise very fine.

Edward 'Ted' James McCarty, telephone mechanic, age 21, born at Glebe, Sydney, NSW; Enl.18Nov1915 at Melbourne, Vic; to 23 Depot Bn, Royal Park 29Nov1915; to AMC Royal Park 07Dec1915; to AMC Broadmeadows 22Mar1916; to Point Cook 05May1916; Emb.25Oct1916; to 69 Aust Sqn RFC 23Dec1916; to France 24Aug1917; to 3Sqn AFC 18Jan1918; to A/Cpl 01Apr1918; to Cpl 01Jul1918; detached for duty to Hqrs London 16May1919; RTA 22Nov1919; Disch.21Oct1920.

In an Evening News (Sydney) newspaper account dated 4 December 1929 of the death of the famous German air ace, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, better known as 'The Red Baron', ex-Cpl E.J.McCarty wrote, 'I happened to be a medical corporal with the 3rd Squadron A.F.C. which got body and machine. The bullet that killed Richthofen entered the right side and came out through the apex of the heart. The cable stated that he was shot in the chest and mouth, which is wrong. The wing doctor and myself held a post-mortem examination to try to locate the bullet and to see if an opinion could be formed as to the angle at which he had been shot and the type of gun that had fired. It proved that Richthofen had been shot from the ground. I also laid the German Ace out for burial.'

In the book, 'Who killed the Red Baron' by P.J.Carisella and James W.Ryan, published 1979, pp193-94 it gives an account of the medical orderly, E.J.McCarty, who prepared the Red Baron's body for autopsy and states, 'While the guards stood back, McCarty unbuttoned the Baron's outer fur-lined jacket. Then with the help of a guard, he slipped it down over the shoulders and arms of the corpse. He then undid the buttons of the Baron's inner flying jacket. As he struggled to slip that jacket over the shoulders and arms, he saw a large wallet tucked into a left breast pocket. McCarty quickly tugged the wallet out of the pocket, with a wink at the guard. When he did so, a spent bullet popped out with it and fell into the lining of the jacket. McCarty snatched up the slug and stuck it into his trouser pocket.' The book further states that McCarty claimed that the bullet was lost in 1935 'when his mother died and he burned all sorts of papers and the bullet was lost in the debris.'

With copy of Service File.