7.65 x 53 mm Mauser ammunition projectile: Private Hubert Hume Corney, 24 Battalion, AIF

Fired 7.65 x 53 mm Mauser ammunition projectile.

Hubert Hume Corney was a bank clerk from Kyneton, Victoria when he enlisted in the AIF on 28 May 1915, and was posted as a private to the 2nd Reinforcements of 24th Battalion, with the service number 1764. He joined the battalion near Lone Pine, Gallipoli on 29 September 1915 and stayed in the area until the evacuation off the peninsula in December. In the days prior to the withdrawal he suffered a wound to his left leg from this projectile, though the details are unclear. He was admitted to hospital in Egypt on 23 December 1915. After hospitalisation he returned to his unit in February 1916.

Corney was promoted to lance corporal in France on 13 August 1916. Two weeks later he was awarded the Military Medal for his actions as a stretcher bearer under heavy fire at Pozieres.

In May 1917, now a commissioned officer, Corney transferred to the 21st Battalion. Following heavy fighting near Broodseinde, Belgium, on 9 October, he was reported as missing. In February 1918 a court of enquiry declared that Corney was presumed to have been killed in action.

Corney’s mother wrote repeatedly to authorities in an attempt to locate her son's burial place. Finally, in 1920, she received news that her son’s remains had been found. He had been identified by the paybook remaining in his tunic pocket and had been reinterred in the Passchendaele New British Cemetery.