George Alexander (Chinga) METCALF

METCALF, George Alexander

Service Numbers: W42071, WX41476
Enlisted: 19 December 1944
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 67th Infantry Battalion (WW1)
Born: Palmyra, Western Australia, 25 November 1926
Home Town: Fremantle, Fremantle, Western Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Packer
Died: Fremantle, Western Australia, 3 August 2006, aged 79 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Fremantle Cemetery, Western Australia
Memorials:
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World War 2 Service

19 Dec 1944: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, W42071
21 May 1945: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX41476
9 Apr 1946: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX41476, 67th Infantry Battalion (WW1), ex Sydney to Kure, japan per Anoora
20 May 1946: Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, W42071
5 Sep 1947: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX41476, 67th Infantry Battalion (WW1), ex Kure, Japan for Sydney per Duntroon
10 Oct 1947: Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX41476

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

George (aka Chinga) was the third child of William (Will) George Macfarlane Metcalf (b1889 in Northumberland, England) and Elizabeth Mary Dyson (b1895 in Fremantle, WA). Will (a Fireman) and Elizabeth married in 1915 in Fremantle, WA where they settled and raised their family. Will had worked as a Fruiterer and Gardener in England and emigrated in 1913 - arriving in Fremantle on board the Orsova. Will worked as a Lumper at Fremantle Wharf, and was killed in 1943 when a load fell from a ship onto him.

Chinga was a Packer living in Fremantle WA with his mother when he enlisted in the ACMF in May 1945 (Private; Service No:W42071). In May 1945 he was Discharged to enlist in the AIF, as part of the BCOF in Japan. He served as a Private (Service No:WX41476) and was attached to 67 Infantry Battalion when he was Discharged in October 1947. 

Chinga returned to Fremantle WA where he was working as a Lumper in 1951 when he married Edna Mavis Voysey (b1930 in Perth WA) - Edna worked as Factory Hand. In 1953 Chinga was riding a motor cycle when he suffered severe head injuries as a result of a collison with a truck. He claimed (The Daily News; 1955) that 'Life's not worth living. I don't get on with other men on the wharf. .... Some of them sling off at me and reckon I'm silly ....I get terrible pains in my head' and he was unable to remember anything about the accident or his life prior to 1953. Chinga and Edna divorced - Edna moved to Sydney where she worked as a Waitress and Barmaid - and Chinga moved in with his mother and continued working on the wharves. In the mid 1970s he remarried - Eunice Beryl Inkpen (nee Lovering; b 1919 in Fremantle WA). Chinga died in 2006 and Eunice in 2007.

 

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