Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

George Leslie Buerckner was born in Yarrawonga, Victoria, on 26 September 1896. His parents, Frederick and Sarah Buerckner (nee Pugsley), were running a skins business in the local district around this time. George was only five when his mother died in 1902. His father and his father’s second wife, Ellen May James, married the following year, and they brought up George. In March 1906 George’s family moved from the Yarrawonga district to Deniliquin, New South Wales.

For next seven years, George and his family lived in Deniliquin where he attended school and helped out the family on their property.

On 2 December 1914, George enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force for World War I. His enlistment papers state that he was 21 years and two months old, but according to Births, Deaths and Marriages he was only 18 years old. He was not accepted because they found out he was under age.

George, not being deterred, changed his hair colour from fair to brown and his name to George Leslie James (James being his stepmother’s maiden name). He re-enlisted five months later at Holsworthy, Liverpool, New South Wales. This time he stated his next of kin was his ‘father’ Fred Francis James, who actually was his eldest brother. Anyway, George was accepted in the Army and his service number was 1548. His persistence to join the Army was a sign of the times, with thousands of young Australian men eager to leave Australia and fight for their country.

George joined the 18th Battalion and embarked for active service on 12 May 1915. He proceeded to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at Gallipoli in August 1915. His hair colour changed back to fair and the Army became suspicious; this is how his nickname became Snowy.

While in the Army, George was in and out of trouble, as evidenced by his service record - he was sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour and the forfeiture of 33 days’ pay. George was found guilty of two charges - first, he was AWOL from 2 July 1917 until he was arrested in Paris on 21 July 1917 and, second, when in confinement, he escaped.

In June 1918 the Army found out that George Leslie James was actually George Leslie Buerckner. Again, George was in trouble with the Army.

On 27 November 1918 at the age of 26, George married Mabel Ethel Bamford (nee Brown) at Christ Church North Brixton, London, England. Mabel Ethel had already been married and had a son, Eric William Bamford, who was nine years old. At the end of the war, George returned to Australia on H.T. Aeneas leaving England on 18 December 1918 and arriving back to Australia on 5 February 1919. On 12 February a few days later, George required a medical and dental check-up. Once those results were identified George was discharged from the Australian Imperial Force at Sydney on 8 April 1919 as medically unfit.

Later that year, on 16 December 1919, according to the Army records, the state board approved Mabel and Eric for free passengers from England to the Commonwealth for the wives and children of Australian Soldiers. The request and arrangements were completed by the High Commissioner in London.

Arriving in 1920, they settled in Deniliquin as a family.