Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
It was already Wednesday, 5 August 1914 in Australia when Britain declared war on Germany. The Auburn Company of the 39th Infantry Regiment was in camp at Liverpool doing their 14 days continuous military training as required by the Defence Act. At 10am on 5 August, engineer Lieutenant Stanley Perry, one sergeant, two corporals and 18 other ranks were ordered to proceed to the Newington Naval Magazine at Silverwater to guard that installation. This could well have been the first deployment of troops in the First World War anywhere in Australia.
Both Stanley and his brother Theophilus William Perry appear on both the Auburn North Public School Honour Roll and on the Auburn Superior Public School Honour Roll. They completed their primary education at Auburn North and then completed one or two years at Auburn Superior Public School that, for the early decades of the 20th century, provided post-primary vocational courses such as Woodwork, Metalwork and Business Principles.
Perry applied for a commission in the AIF on enlistment in October 1914. He was commissioned as Second Lieutenant the following month and promoted to full Lieutenant in February 1915. Perry landed at Anzac Cove on the first day, 25 April 1915 and he survived there until receiving a bullet wound to the right shoulder in August 1915.
In Egypt, almost recovered from his wound, he was hospitalized with diphtheria in January 1916. Perry was promoted to Major, and went to the Western Front in June 1916.
Like several other Auburn Memorial men, Perry had several trips back to the United Kingdom. The first was after receiving a gunshot wound to the jaw and abdomen. The second trip was to attend a Senior Officers’ Course (after which he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel) and the third was for leave. In total, Perry was in the front line for more than two years and in that time he was decorated with a Military Cross, a Distinguished Service Order and was Mentioned in Dispatches several times.
Perry returned to Australia on the Commonwealth as Officer Commanding - Troops. He remained in Auburn until his death in 1979. He was prominent in the memorial committee, serving on Auburn Council and enlisting again on the outbreak of the Second World War. He is acknowledged as Auburn's most decorated soldier and as a leading citizen of Auburn in the post-war years.
Perry's name was added to the Auburn War Memorial in error in 2014, when the memorial was being refurbished and relocated. The memorial only includes those who died during the war, like his brother T W Perry.
Stanley Perry is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- Auburn Public School First World War Honour Roll
- Auburn North Public School Great War Roll of Honor
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal 1914-20
- Victory Medal
- 1914-1915 Star
- Distinguished Service Order
- Military Cross
- Mention in despatches