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A corry, or corrie (plural: corries), is a term used in Scotland as a synonym for a cirque. The etymology is from the Gaelic word coire for a “kettle.”
In geology, a cirque, or corry, is most commonly described as a deep, steep-walled half-bowl-like recess or hollow, semi-circular in plan situated high on the side of a mountain commonly at the head of a glacial valley. Corries are produced by the erosive activity of a mountain glacier plucking at its headwall. There is commonly a small, round lake in the corry, either behind a terminal moraine left as the glacier melted, or a lip of rock left by the glacial action.
There is a small village of Corry on the Isle of Skye in the Scottish Highlands and the name seems to have definitely originated in that area. If going that way you might consider staying in the Corry Lodge in Broadford village on the Isle of Skye.
Early in the Second Millennia, a number of Scots were resettled by the British in Ireland for various reasons on several occasions. Corries appear to have been among those Scots. William of Orange was behind one such migration in the late 17 th Century that engendered animosities that endure to this day. As a result the Corry name is found widely in Ireland. Irish Corries can currently be found engaged in such diverse occupations as bombing British barracks in Germany and in the Protestant ministry.
There are also Corries in the United States who descended from the Alsace/Lorraine region in Europe. Their “Corry” name was derived from the French “Correaux,” which was changed when they came to America apparently as they passed through immigration.
Later migration of Corries into Britain's colonies has been pervasive. Our name is found in South Africa and Australia. A Charles Corry was captain of police in Hong Kong when the Japanese occupied it in WW II. We are found in many other former British colonies as well.
In the America's, John Corry, Jr. stood with the seventy men of Capt. Parker's company of Minutemen on the Lexington Green that momentous April morning in 1775. Thomas Corry, at age 19, fought for Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, helping to free the State of Texas from Mexican domination.
Lieutenant Commander William Merrill Corry, United States Navy, was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for attempting to rescue the pilot of a plane he was a passenger in. When the plane crashed and burst into flames on October 2, 1920, he was “...thrown clear of the plane and, though injured, rushed back to the burning machine and endeavored to release the pilot. In so doing he sustained serious burns, from which he died 4 days later.” Lt. Cdr. Corry was from Quincy, Florida, and from this heritage a Naval Training Center at Pensacola now takes our name.
There have also been three destroyers named USS Corry in honor of Lt. Cdr. Corry's heroism.
The first USS Corry, DD-334, was launched March 28, 1921, sponsored by Mrs. S. W. Corry. After commissioning on May 25, 1921, she served for some years with the Pacific Fleet. The ship was de-commissioned April 30, 1930, in accordance with the terms of the London Treaty for the limitation of naval armament. She was stripped and sold for salvage on October 18, 1930.
The second USS Corry, DD-463, was launched July 28, 1941 by Charleston Navy Yard, sponsored by Ms. J. C. Corry. After commissioning she reported to the Atlantic Fleet for wartime operations. In 1942 the USS Corry participated in the Moroccan landings in the screen of USS Ranger, CV-4. After that she participated in many convoy operations including service with the British Home Fleet escorting Russia-bound convoys in the North Atlantic.
Similar operations continued until February 16, 1944, when USS Corry sailed for hunter-killer operations in the Atlantic with TG 21.16, arriving at Casablanca March 8 th . After leaving Casablanca she joined with the USS Bronstein, DE-189, in attacking the German submarine U-801. When the submarine surfaced, USS Corry sank her with gunfire, and picked up her 47 survivors.
USS Corry cleared Norfolk April 20, 1944, for Great Britain and staging for the Normandy Invasion. On D-Day she escorted heavy ships and transports across the channel and then headed for San Marcouf Island, her station for fire support.
There are conflicting reports about what happened during the ensuing battle. The captain's log states that she was hit at 0633 hours by shell fire amidships below the waterline, which appears to concur with available German records, as well as accounts from the crewmen themselves. The explosion occurred below her engineering spaces and all power was lost. Within minutes she broke amidships and her main deck was under two feet of water. The order was given to abandon ship and her survivors were in the water for about two hours under constant shelling until rescued by USS Fitch, DD-462, USS Hobson DD-464, USS Butler DD-636, and PT-199. Of her crew, 6 were dead, 16 missing, and 33 injured.
That was the report submitted by Captain George Hoffman, then in command, two weeks later. However, for no apparent reason, Captain Hoffman's report was discarded and rewritten just before it was forwarded to Naval headquarters. Neither Captain Hoffman nor any of his surviving officers or crew were consulted or interviewed. The “official” report stated that the Corry had struck a mine that exploded below the engineering section, noting this as the cause of her sinking. The shell fire was reported as “incidental damage.”
USS Corry received 4 battle stars for World War II service.
The third USS Corry, DD-817, was launched on July 28, 1945, and sailed out of Norfolk for local operations until April 1, 1953 when she was decommissioned for conversion to a radar picket destroyer. She was reclassified DDR-817 on April 9, 1953, and recommissioned on January 1, 1954. She served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970 and in many other operations including the Cuban Missile Crisis. The USS Corry DDR-817 was stricken from the US Navy List on February 27, 1981 and sold to Greece in July 1981. Renamed “Kriezis” she served in the Greek Navy until 1994. As of January, 1998, she is said to be laid up in Souda Bay, Crete.
Second Lieutenant Roy A. Corry, Jr., US Marine Corps VMF-221 , was a Marine aviator credited with shooting down an A6M Zero and an Aichi 99 DB during the Battle of Midway, probably one of the most pivotal engagements our country has ever fought. Army SP5 Charles Michael Corry is listed on The Wall of the Vietnam Memorial. Possibly this country has fought without a Corry, but I doubt it, though we are small in number. I served with 1 st Marines and my son with 5 th Marines.
Corry is the name of a substantial town in northwest Pennsylvania, and our name can be found in various locations on maps of Texas and Utah.
A number of Corries emigrated to Utah with Brigham Young in 1847, fleeing the extreme religious oppression once practiced against my forbearers by the government of these United States. After first settling in the Salt Lake Valley, a number of Corries, including my great-great- and great-grandparents were called on to help form the Iron Mission at what is now Cedar City, and occupied two of the twenty wagons of the original settlers there as told in the following section.
After settling in Cedar City, my paternal great-grandfather, Andrew Corry was elected colonel of his battalion in the Blackhawk War. He lived to be one of the last four original Utah pioneers.
Corries remain widely distributed throughout Utah to the present.
Today the Corry name is associated with scientists, authors, at least one columnist, doctors, attorneys, publishing, the former CEO of a major oil and steel company, engineers, and diverse other professions. We are distributed widely throughout North America and the rest of the world.
We were also first in space, at least on television, with Commander Buzz Corry of the Space Patrol.
I suspect the Highlander's traits of endurance, stubbornness, a ribald sense of humor, and a willingness to defend our honor and freedom regardless of the sacrifice required, still runs deep in most of us.
If you have further interest in the Corry name there is a Corry Family Genealogy Forum that might be of some use.
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