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History / Summary
Captain George Meysey Hammond, also known as Meysey George Hammond, was born in England, emigrated to Australia in 1911, and enlisted on 25 February 1915 in 28th Battalion, AIF.

He was awarded the Military Medal as a sergeant for his bravery near Bois Grenier, France on 2 June 1916 when, under heavy fire, he went forward to gather important information on enemy activity. Hammond was wounded in the leg at Pozieres on 29 July, leaving him with an enduring limp, the same day that he was commissioned a second lieutenant. He incurred a second more serious wound on 5 November at Flers when his elbow was shattered, rendering his left arm permanently useless, which had to be supported in a sling. In January 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant. 

Despite the handicaps resulting from his wounds, Hammond convinced the authorities to return him to front line service.

For his actions as an Intelligence Officer near Westhoek on 20 September 1917 he was awarded the Military Cross (MC). While having only one functioning arm and the added handicap of a walking stick, he managed to single-handedly capture 20 German prisoners and gather important information. 

On Christmas Day near Ploegsteert, Hammond had a narrow escape from a sniper when a bullet was stopped by his field notebook and this cigarette case as it tore through his breast pocket. In early 1918 Hammond was posted to the Australian War Records Section in England but following numerous appeals to his superiors he returned to his battalion in France in May as captain in command of 'A' company.

His actions near Morlancourt on 10 June 1918 were recognised with the award of a bar to his Military Cross. During the fighting he moved across no-mans-land, ten metres in front of his men, directing the attacking line with his walking stick hanging from his useless left arm and a watch in his right hand. Despite the danger he frequently had his back to the enemy while following closely behind the creeping artillery barrage, and would occasionally straighten the line with a wave of his stick. When his men followed him into the German trench, Hammond had already captured a number of enemy prisoners. He was mortally wounded by a sniper’s bullet the following day and died on the 14th.

A fellow officer said of Hammond that 'I am quite sure that [he] did not know what fear meant…I never once saw him duck for either a shell or a bullet'. He is buried in Vignacourt Cemetery.

From François BerthoutAussies & Kiwis for ANZACs

Capt George Meysey Hammond MC+Bar, MM 

In the Somme, silent and peaceful, rest in peace, under the cross of sacrifice and the rows of white graves, thousands of young men, a whole generation of men who here, in the trenches and the battlefields fought and fell side by side through the poppy fields that remind us, through their red petals, that here, over a hundred years ago, millions of men gave their youth and their lives in the mud and barbed wire for peace and freedom in which we live thanks to them and in which they rest, always united in comradeship and brotherhood in the white and silent cities and that forever they will be remembered and honored so that their lives, their courage and their sacrifices are never forgotten.

Today, it is one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his life for our tomorrow that I would like to honor with the deepest gratitude.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Captain George Meysey Hammond who fought in the 28th Australian Infantry Battalion, A Company, 7th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division and who died of his wounds 103 years ago, on June 14, 1918 at the age of of 25 on the Somme front.

George Meysey Hammond was born July 3, 1892 in Handsworth, Staffordshire, England, and was the son of George Richard Hammond, who worked as a grocer, and Emily Hammond (née Roberts).George Meysey was privately educated then from the age of 13, he was educated at the National School of Pershore, Worcestershire, England.He was briefly secretary to a vicar and then apprenticed himself to a grocer.The sea and the prospect of escape from a humdrum existence appealed strongly to him and when, to his mortification, he twice failed to pass the test for colour-blindness with a shipping line he decided to migrate to Australia.

George arrived in Western Australia at the age of 18 in February 1911 and, having refused all aid from his father, was employed as a labourer on a wheat farm near Moora and then as a boundary rider on the Upper Gascoyne and in the De Grey district. With two "chum" he bought a 6000-acre (2428 ha) farm but this venture failed and in mid-1913 he signed on at Fremantle as a seaman on the schooner Penguin. After one voyage to the East Indies, full of hardship, danger and excitement,he was put ashore at his request on the Western Australian coast near Dongara with no boots and little more than the nondescript clothes he was wearing. He worked briefly on a dairy farm, then sat for the qualifying examination for entry into the Commonwealth Public Service. He was working as a post-office assistant at Broome with telegraphic operating ability when war broke out in August 1914.

George enlisted on February 25, 1915 at Blackboy Hill in the 28th Australian Infantry Battalion, A company, and was promoted to the rank of Corporal three months later, on May 24, 1915 and embarked with his unit from Fremantle, on board HMAT A11 Ascanius on June 29, 1915 and sailed for Egypt and two months later, on August 6, 1915, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and embarked for the Gallipoli peninsula on September 4 on board Ivernia and was disembarked to ANZAC on December 2 where the 28th Australian Infantry Battalion moved into trenches near Rhododendron Ridge.

During thirteen weeks under fire on Gallipoli Peninsula,George distinguished himself in patrol work and won a reputation for absolute fearlessness. He was sent off ill just before the evacuation in December, but was specially mentioned for his work and awarded the Military Medal. He rejoined his unit in March 1916, just before it left Egypt for France. He was wounded in the leg during heavy fighting north of Pozières on July 29 and in hospital he learned that he had been promoted second lieutenant on that date. In fact he should not have been in the fighting because he had been ordered to remain at Albert with a nucleus group but had disobeyed.

George rejoined his unit at Ypres in September and next month accompanied it to the Somme. Just before the attack on the German trenches at Flers on 5 November his left arm was shattered by a bullet,so badly that from then on it was useless and had to be carried in a sling,a glove covered the skin discolouration which developed. A medical board recommended his return to Australia, but he pleaded so strongly that in May 1917 he was back with his battalion. He had been promoted lieutenant five months earlier and on resuming duty was appointed intelligence officer doubtless with the intention of keeping him out of the fighting. He was prominent in action at Polygon Wood in September, capturing twenty Germans and winning the Military Cross, and in the attack in October on Broodseinde Ridge, where he and the signals officer were observed well ahead of the advancing infantry, exuberantly charging pillboxes.

Here is the citation accompanying George's Military Cross which he was awarded for his courage at Polygon Wood:

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the attack on 20/09/17 at Westhoek.Lieutenant Hammond went forward with the Advance Brigade Party as Intelligence Officer.He secured much valuable matter.Although only having the use of one arm,he captured 20 prisoners by himself.His example to the men was wonderful.He was fearless in the extreme and cheered everyone on.He volunteered for any dangerous work and made a number of reconnaisances on the front line,securing much useful informations."

On Christmas Day near Ploegsteert,George had a narrow escape from a sniper when a bullet was stopped by his field notebook and his cigarette case as it tore through his breast pocket.

Early in 1918 A.I.F. Headquarters decided to send an officer to Palestine to take control of the War Records Section from Captain (Sir) Henry Somer Gullett who had been appointed official war correspondent with the Light Horse. The choice fell on George who joined the War Records Section in London in April with obvious reluctance. When, soon afterwards, letters began to arrive from his mates on the Somme, he begged to be allowed to return to his unit and rejoined it in mid-May as a company commander with the rank of captain. On June 10,1918, the 28th Australian Infantry Battalion attacked the German lines at Morlancourt. George, knowing that the eager Australians were in danger of advancing too quickly and being caught in the supporting shell-fire, walked ahead of his men, checking the bounds of the barrage with watch in hand, all the time upright, frequently with his back to the enemy, straightening out the line with an occasional motion of his walking-stick, halting it and ordering it to ground whenever it moved too close to the bursting shells. He was the first man into the enemy trenches and a dozen or so Germans had surrendered to him before the rest of the troops arrived. He was wounded while visiting his outposts next day.

George was evacuated to the 61st Casualty Clearing Station in Vignacourt, Somme, but unfortunately he died of his wounds on June 14, 1918, he was 25 years old and posthumously awarded his Bar for his Military Cross for his acts of bravery at Morlancourt with the following citation:

"For consistant gallantry and excellent work during the operations South of Morlancourt near Albert,on night 10/11 June 1918.Just prior to the attack he moyed about among his men,and by his cheerful manner inspired confidence.When the barrage oppened, he jumped out of the trench,formed his men up,and cleverly led them up across No Man's Land to the objective.Being the first to jump into the enemy trench,he pointed his revolver at the Germans there,with the result that 20 surrendered to him.He quickly consolidated his line, and put out covering parties,setting a fine example of coolness and courage to all.He was subsequently wounded when returning from a visit to one of his out-posts and has since died".

Today,Captain George Meysey Hammond rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Vignacourt British Cemetery, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "Beloved son of George Richard and Emily Hammond, Aston Subedge , Campden Glos ".

George, you who fought with the greatest bravery on the battlefields of Gallipoli, Belgium and France,in the Somme where you served with honor and courage until your last breath, I would like to thank you with all my heart for all that you have done for us and to have given your life, your today for our tomorrow, for the peace for which you fought and in which I live thanks to you around the old battlefields and thousands of boys, my boys of the Somme over whom I am honored and proud to watch beyond words, beyond heart, a whole generation who stand proud and smiling behind the rows of their graves, who rest in peace where they fell and who today, live in us, with us.Today they walk in peace, all together through the peaceful fields of poppies which were for them, more than a hundred years ago, hell on earth, a hell of mud and blood, tears and steel recovering kilometers of sacred land.They were young and in the horror and promiscuity of the trenches, they gave their youth and their lives to liberate our country, they lost their innocence in the horror and apocalypse of once peaceful landscapes that were turned into fields of death and of dead who were mown down in the fire of shells and machine guns and who, one by one, collapsed and fell into the barbed wire which forever bruised the soils of France on which so many young and brave men who marched, fought and served together with pride and bravery in the fields of the Somme.In the mud, in the cold, under rains of shells and bullets they stood proud, they held their line, every position with unwavering bravery and determination, they stood strong and moved forward with conviction to bring an end to this war, an end to all wars, they made their country proud because they wrote history in letters of gold and giving their blood so that millions, so that their loved ones can live in a peaceful future and for these just causes which gathered millions of heroes, they went beyond courage, soldiers and officers, side by side, they did their duty with honor and devotion on the battlefields of the great war in which so many lives and hopes were lost.Guided by exceptional men and officers like you George, these men, these young boys gave their best in no man's land, they followed your example and your extreme courage, fighting with one good arm, you led hundreds of men towards victory, sometimes unfortunately, they fell behind you but they served with the conviction of having fought and served with heroes like you who crossed deluges of bullets without fear, all were heroes, exceptional men who charged the enemy trenches at your side, baionettes forward, they followed you through hell with confidence, following the tanks, fighting under the torn skies of a world at war in which the sky knights fought,they moved forward by your side and fell by your side for justice and freedom until it was your turn, after a last courageous assault, to fall.Your death was heartbreaking for your men, for all those who knew you and who had the honor to fight by your side and who today, for many of them, rest by your side.Silent but always present, they rest in peace among the poppies that grow between their graves over which I would always watch with the highest respect, I am only 31 years old, a long life that for them, I would give so that theirs would never be forgotten, I would do my best to bring them back to life and to honor them, each of them with love and gratitude so that they will live forever in our hearts, so that their stories remain eternal.Thank you so much George,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.

I would like to thank Mr A.J Sweeting who helped me in my research concerning George Meysey Hammond.