Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Named after his father, George Herbert Jnr was born on the 20th May 1908 at Nurse Harnett’s Private Hospital in Sydney. His parents were Beatrice and George Herbert Snr. He had two sisters, Beatrice Helene (Betty) named after their mother, and Olive Mary. George Snr was heavily involved in the wool industry as a buyer to the point that as a single young man, in 1889 he applied for a patent for ‘Improvements in apparatus for extracting suint (natural grease) from wools’.
Young George was just eight years old when his 39-year-old father died in Brookline Massachusetts USA on November 18th 1917.
With the family being strong Catholics, George (Jnr) attended St Aloysius College where he was involved in a wide range of social activities based on the friends who also attended the school, of which they were all proud, to the extent that the school colours of blue and gold were frequently used for party and dance decorations.
George quickly followed in his father’s footsteps, became involved in the wool trade as a buyer for Kreglinger and Ferneau (Aust.), Ltd. and would travel to Europe to sell this valuable commodity. He frequently also crossed Australia, visiting Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney, with his travels being record in the social pages of each state, which also noted where he stayed and his mode of travel (Great Western Express and the Duntroon.)
With the outbreak of WWII, 32-year-old George enlisted in Adelaide, giving his occupation as a wool appraiser. He was allocated the number SX11103 and placed in the 2/48th Reinforcements. By the 24th April ’41 he sailed for the Middle East arriving on the 14th May. During this time, he was promoted to Temporary Corporal.
Within days of arriving, this world traveller went exploring, earning a severe reprimand and being parted with a day’s pay. Despite reverting to the ranks, within a fortnight he was again promoted to Acting Corporal. Fortunately, George’s quick intelligence was recognised with him being installed as part of the Infantry Special group, where the abilities of the men were held in high regard.
Darren Paech in Adelaide to Alamein (based on Grandfather Ivor Paech’s war diaries) made an entry on the 26th November ’41 “Made a complete check of all stores in the Intelligence Section. Members of the section included Sergeant Jack Glenn, Corporal Geoff (George) Gerber, Privates Les Feehan, John Abbott, Bert Johnson and Mick Riley.” Ivor introduced himself to his new soldiers, spending the next few days ‘learning the ropes in the Intelligence Section. He studied the atest intelligence reports on the enemy and the local civilian population.’ Ivor was responsible for command of the Intelligence Section, with the aim of interpreting information on the enemy and other factors that might affect the battalion’s operations like weather, terrain and attitudes of local civilians. The group was also expected to be familiar with enemy tactics and capabilities and would brief Commanding Officers with significant changes or developments. Ivor forged close bonds with the group when he was moved to Battalion Headquarters where the Intelligence Section was located gathering intelligence.
George’s personal ‘sight-seeing’, however, was repeated at the end of that year (’41) – an act that earned him a fortnight confined to barracks and a fine.
By January ’42 George’s ability resulted in him being transferred to the Cipher Section of Intelligence. By this stage, conditions in the Middle East, dust, flies, repetitive diet and lack of water all contributed to George developing dermatitis and a high temperature (pyrexia of Unknown Origin), followed a week later by malaria. By November he attended Higher Grade Cipher School to further develop his skills.
Finally, the 2/48th Battalion was able to return to Australia via Melbourne in March ’43. After brief leave George and the battalion trained in Queensland to prepare them for the humidity of New Guinea. During his six months service there his health deteriorated with a skin infection (Impetigo) causing a stay in hospital before he was able to finally return to Brisbane in February ’44. A brief stay in the Ballarat Hospital preceded his discharge on the 29th March ’44.
Frustratingly, George was initially denied his 1939-45 Star and African Star medals for service in Tobruk as a Rat. This derogatory term was devised by the Germans to destroy morale of the soldiers who lived in hand dug underground shelters ‘like rats’. In typical Australian fashion, the men quickly adopted the term, Rats of Tobruk as a badge of honour. Eventually, George’s role as a Rat was acknowledged and he is honoured by that Association today (with his medal being personally but belatedly delivered to him in February ’73.)
George returned to his civilian area of work, becoming the Chairman of the SA and Victorian Wool Buyers' Association. He was at the forefront of a move to end a previous agreement with shipowners over freight costs for overseas shipments. He was hoping for Government assistance to cut the crippling freight costs, which affected the growers of the commodity. At the time growers in America, Europe, England and South Africa were pushing for an increase of wool production. This was despite a fear that artificial fibres would overtake or replace wool.
With the war at an end, in December ’47, George announced his engagement to Fay Dianne, only child of Mr and Mrs L. J. Carter, of East St Kilda, and a granddaughter of the late Dr William Maloney, MP. Fay was described as ‘an old girl of Mandeville Hall, and, after studying sculpture at Melbourne Technical College for five years, is now teaching pottery there.’ The couple welcomed their daughter, who was born in Melbourne in July ’51.

George died on the 18th September 1981 and now rests in the Victorian Garden of Remembrance.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.