Phillip Davey was born on the 10th of October 1896 at Unley, Adelaide. He grew up with his parents William George Davey, a carpenter and Elizabeth O’Neill. Phillip had two brothers, Richard Davey born on the 19th of March 1894, and Claud Davey born on the 28th of August 1895. Phillip use to be a horse driver before he enlisted. (Francis, 2015).

In December 1914 Phillip Davey enlisted in the 10th Battalion. In 1915 on the 2nd of February Phillip Davey embarked from Melbourne with the 10th Battalion and travelled to Egypt to undergo training and meet with other battalions and troops. (Francis, 2015) This is where the Australian Imperial Force joined forces with the New Zealand equivalent and formed the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). The first mission that was assigned to the ANZAC’s was the Gallipoli Campaign. The plan was that the first wave of troops had to secure the beach and grab the high ground. This was vital for success. (Ryan, 2014) After the troops would push their way towards forts of Dardanelles. The plan was proven to be a lot harder then expected The men waited on ships in the pitch black, they had no idea of the challenges that they were about to face. The Turks opened fire on the ANZACs as soon as the boat grounded 30 meters from shore. Phillip Davey returned to Australia in January 1916 to recover from the wounds that he got during the battle. On the 27th June of the same year, Davey re-embarked with the 10th battalion’s 18th reinforcement. (Ben Francis 2015) He proceeded to England and joined the rest of his battalion in France in September. On 3rd of January 1918 in Warneton, Belgium, Davey crawled into the no-mans land under heavy fire, he did this to rescue a badly wounded friend. Davey was awarded the Military Medal, an award given to those for bravery in on-land battles. Phillip Davey was promoted to Corporal On the 24th April 1918. (AWM, 2017)