Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

George David Davidson Mackie was born in Kelty Scotland, a village, north-east of Glasgow, on the twentieth of January 1918. He lived there for eleven years, before his family migrated to Australia in 1929. Once in Australia, he was raised in Sydney, it was here he lived out his teen years with his six siblings, mother and father. His father, Walter worked in the coal mines while his mother, Kathleen, raised the children and ran a soup kitchen along with working as a midwife.

On the twenty-ninth of May 1940, he enlisted, becoming part of Australia’s Military Forces. He trained at Ingleburn camp, a major training facility in New South Wales. Ingleburn Military camp covered 2.77 square kilometres; George Mackie trained there before leaving Sydney as a working member of the 2/1 Anti-Aircraft Regiment. His role within the team was tail gunner, meaning he controlled the horizontal traverse of the machine guns situated at the rear end of the planes. It had been a dream of his for many years, to represent Australia as a Military Force associate.

His World War 2 overseas journey began when he travelled to Port Tewfik, Africa where he fought followed with time spent in New Guinea and Balikpapan, Indonesia. During his time fighting the Japanese in New Guinea, he contracted Dengue Virus Infection (also known as dengue fever) from mosquito bites. Dengue fever has symptoms like that of the flu, only more extreme. Dengue fever can be fatal but luckily, George Mackie’s case was not that severe. Despite it not leaving a lasting impact, it left him bed bound for a short period of time, making him inactive in the battlefield for roughly two and a half weeks. Another significant hospitalisation occurred due to his war efforts in Balikpapan, Indonesia due to a bomb explosion causing a fractured skull resulting in him undergoing bone reconstruction surgery. 

During the war, he kept two meticulous diaries that he gave to his children who gifted them to the museum where they were transcribed, printed and given to the national war museum in Canberra. These diaries covered his training experiences, aircraft anniversaries, promotions, air raid displays, leave opportunities, sailing and weather conditions, foods he was provided, the Alexandria Harbour attack (the Italian E-boat attack on battleship), front line activities, locations and as his final entry, his staging camp experience.

He returned from war, five years after his enlistment and was discharged from Martin Place, Sydney on the sixth of December 1945.

Bibliography

Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2137857 Accessed: 19/10/2022

1941 The Journey from Egypt to Australia https://italianprisonersofwar.com/2022/03/07/1941-the-journey-from-egypt-to-australia Accessed: 19/10/22

World War Two Nominal Roll https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/ww2 Accessed: 24/10/22