Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

George Sydney Nelson was born in Melbourne in about 1892.  He was married when he enlisted, to Lillian (née Pulver).  His is a story not so much of service, but of injury, illness and insubordination. 

George embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT ‘Euripides’, bound for the battlefields of the Dardanelles.  He proceeded to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Forces at Gallipoli on 30 August 1915. 

In November 1915, the Daily Advertiser printed excerpts of a letter that Lillian had received from her husband which described a charge made by his battalion at Gallipoli.  Within, he wrote

We hopped over the parapet of the support trench, raced over our advanced firing line and on for some 500 yards further.  What remained of our party threw themselves flat on the ground and scraped up a bit of earth to hide our heads from the Turks.  Then we dug like mad to get our bodies under cover.  Once we were ‘dug in’ we were not so badly off.  Then the artillery and the guns of the warships started firing on the position we had to take.  The din was awful.  The shells screamed over our heads and dropped amongst the enemy in front of us.  Hands, arms, legs and even whole Turks flew up into the air.  That went on for what seemed like an hour.  Then there was a lull – the signal to dash forward again.  A word from the officer and off we went, yelling like mad, laughing, swearing, groaning and screaming.  We thought of nothing but getting our bayonets to work but the Turks left their trenches in a hurry.

After suffering from rheumatism (and being admitted to a number of hospitals at Anzac, Mudros and Cairo) George was admitted to a Convalescent Depot in Egypt, having come down with dysentery.  He did not return to active service on the Peninsula. 

Discharged to duty in January 1916, George left the Overseas Base at Ghezerih, and transferred to Zeitoun.  Here, in March 1916, he was once again admitted to hospital (1st Australian General Hospital), this time with pleurisy. 

On 19 June 1916 George joined the British Expeditionary Forces in Alexandria, and proceeded to the Western Front ten days later.  The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express of 2 June 1916 published the news that Mrs L. Nelson of Fitzmaurice Street had received a letter from her husband, who had been sent to the British Red Cross Convalescent Hotel in London, but that he ‘expected to be well again shortly, and was looking forward to fighting in France.’  In another letter written at this time, George says

The people of England could not do enough for the Australians.  The place is lovely, but it is not so nice as Wagga after all.

George returned to active service on 20 April 1916. 

Less than a month after landing in Marseilles, George was accidentally wounded, when he shot himself with a rifle, necessitating the amputation of the third finger of his right hand.  Back to hospital he went.  In August 1916, he was admitted to ‘Special Hospital’ where he stayed for the duration of the Court of Enquiry into the incident.  The inquest found no evidence that the wound was deliberately self-inflicted, although the report seems to suggest that this is what was suspected by those investigating the case.[1]  In September 1916 fellow Wagga soldier Private George Holmes wrote home to his wife that he had caught up with George in France, and that the latter had ‘had one of his thumbs blown off’.[2]

George rejoined the 54th Battalion on 20 August, but a month later, was admitted once again to hospital in France, suffering with a soft sore (chancre).  That same day he was transferred to the 1st Casualty Clearing Station (Defaulter’s Detention Camp), where he was diagnosed with a venereal sore.[3] 

On 29 September 1916 George was sentenced by the F.G.C.M. (Field General Court Martial) to two years’ imprisonment with hard labour (later commuted to 90 F.P. No. 1)[4] for ‘when a soldier acting as a sentry on Active Service, leaving his post before he was regularly relieved.’

There were more bouts of venereal disease, followed by further punishments for crimes including:

9 September 1916   Awarded 36 days F.P. No. 2[5] for when on active service absenting himself without leave from 27 August to 2 September 1916

11 May 1917             Sentenced by F.G.C.M. to the forfeiture of 27 days’ pay for ‘Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline being in possession of a camera contrary to an A.R.O.[6] For this, George was arrested awaiting trial from 25 April 1917 until 11 May 1917

15 May 1917             Awarded 14 days F.P. No. 2 for being A.W.L. when under open arrest from 13 May 1917 until 14 May 1917

26 August 1917        Sentenced by F.G.C.M. to 9 months imprisonment with hard labour for (1) When A/S committing an offence against an inhabitant of the country, in that he at Lyne, assaulted Madam Beve and Estaminet Keeper[7] at Lynde, by striking her about the face and (2) When A/S committing a civil offence that is stealing, in that he at Lynde did steal a purse containing money from Madam Beve.  Finding (1) Not Guilty (2) Guilty

14 October 1917      Admitted to 3rd Australian Field Ambulance – V.D.G.[8]

16 October 1917      Whilst under escort aboard an Ambulance Train, jumped out of the train at Malannay

24 October 1917      Declared illegal absentee by Court of Enquiry

11 January 1918      Traced

24 January 1918      Admitted to Military Prison

With the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, George offered to go on garrison duty in Germany, but was rejected on medical grounds.  He was discharged from the AIF on 24 April 1919.  He returned to Wagga, and in 1920-21 was living on Docker Street, but by 1935 had left Wagga with his wife.  Both were living in Liverpool (Sydney), and George was working as a boot maker.   

[1] A mate of George’s lost a finger in exactly the same way.  Like George’s case, there is insufficient evidence to prove that the shot was intentional.
[2] Daily Advertiser, 22 September 1916
[3] Requiring treatment at the 30th General Hospital and the 18th General Hospital in Camiers.  By this time (1 October 1916) George had been diagnosed as suffering from Syphilis (VDS).
[4] Field Punishment No. 1 – first introduced in 1881, following the abolition of flogging; a common punishment during WWI.  A commanding officer could award field punishment for up to 28 days, while a court martial could award it for up to 90 days, either as Field Punishment No. 1 or Field Punishment No. 2.  Field Punishment No. 1 (F.P. No. 1) consisted of the convicted man being placed in fetters and handcuffs or similar restraints and attached to a fixed object, such as a gun wheel or fence post, for up to 2 hours a day.  During the early part of WWI the punishment was often applied with the arms outstretched and the legs together, giving rise to the nickname ‘crucifixion’.  Field punishment camps were sometimes set up for the purpose of applying field punishment, a few miles behind the front line, but when the unit was on the move, it would be carried out by the unit itself.  It was eventually abolished in 1923.
[5] In F.P. No. 2, the prisoner was placed in fetters and handcuffs but was not attached to a fixed object and was still able to march with his unit.  This was a relatively tolerable punishment.  In both forms of F.P., the soldier was also subjected to hard labour and loss of pay.
[6] Admiralty Reporting Officer
[7] Someone that sold sly-grog?
[8] Venereal Disease – Gonorrhea