Is this the most Aussie soldier ever? Unearthed WWI documents reveal the untold story of a teenage private who was always in trouble for drinking too much and swearing at his superiors
- Private Humby C.R enlisted for the Australian Army as a 19-year-old in 1916
- While in France he repeatedly disobeyed his orders and received detentions
- Private Humby finally faced a Field General Court Marshall in February 1918
- The Private was charged with disobedience after ignoring official commands
- He had refused to get out of bed and told his superior officer to ‘f*** himself’
Unearthed court documents written during World War I have revealed how a teenage baker who left home to serve as a soldier the Australian Army built a reputation as a troublemaker.
Private Cyril Roy Humby enlisted for the Australian army as a nineteen-year-old in Sydney on the 28 April 1916.
His enlistment papers showed that he worked as a baker, was born in Redfern and had volunteered in the civilian military since he was just sixteen.
After taking his enlistment oath and passing his medical exam, the young soldier boarded a ship heading for France in October 1916.
Private Humby’s records show an extensive ‘crime list’ during his time at war.
PICTURED: Members of the 36th Australian Battalion in a training camp in England on 11 May 1916. Private Cyril Roy Humby was part of the battalion and was repeatedly punished for his behaviour
Private Humby enlisted for the Australian Army in Sydney as a 19-year-old in 1916
He was charged with 96 hours of detention before even making it off the ship for missing a roll call, breaking property and drunkenness.
Throughout his time in the 36th Infantry Battalion, Private Humby repeatedly failed to appear at parades, disobeyed commands from his officers and threatened ‘good order and military discipline’.
Private Humby finally appeared in military court in 1918 after racking up hundreds of hours worth of detention for his ‘crimes of insolence’.
A military record showed how the Private faced a field general court martial on February 16, 1918 for a disobedience charge.
A week before the hearing, Private Humby was ‘personally ordered’ by his Command Sergeant Major to get out of bed and report for job allocation.
‘I am not going to get up, you can go f*** yourself,’ Private Humby shot back.
Private Humby pleaded guilty to the charge and was found guilty of disobedience.
He was sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment with hard labor.
Private Humby was punished in 1918 for telling a superior to ‘go f*** himself’. He was praised for having ‘Aussie spirit’ after a photo of the document was posted to Reddit
Despite spending three years as a military volunteer the 19-year-old had quite an attitude and quickly racked up hundreds of hours of detentions during his time in the 36th Battalion
The private from the 36th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force (pictured) refused orders to get out of bed and told his Command Sergeant Major to ‘go f*** yourself’
A ‘remarks’ section at the bottom of the the document noted that the private’s sentence had been reduced to sixty days of Field Punishment Number One.
It’s understood the punishment meant he would be placed in handcuffs and then chained to a gun wheel or fence post for up to two hours every day.
The document was posted on Reddit, where social media users were quick to praise the soldier for his ‘Aussie spirit.’
‘Presumably they created the ‘Australian of the year’ award shortly after this,’ said one.
‘Nothing captures my idea of Australian culture more than this,’ another commented.
The 36th Battalion disbanded in April of 1918 after suffering mass casualties to a German gas attack during the First Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, a commune in northern France.
Records show that Private Humby returned to Australia on the 22nd of September 1919.
A letter to the army headquarters in January 1923 revealed that the Private was denied his war medals due to his ‘excessive number of offenses’.
‘He should have been discharged as a disciplinary case. War medals are therefore automatically forfeited,’ the letter said.
Private Humby was denied his war medals due to his ‘excessive number of offenses’
Enlistment records show that the Private returned from France to Australia in 1919