Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

GAME John Aylward OBE MD FRACP

1915-1995

John Aylward Game was born, in Launceston, Tasmania, on 3rd June 1915. He was the eldest of four sons of Tasman Aylward Game, a bank manager, and his wife Clarice, nee Turner. He was educated at St Peter’s College, Adelaide, and, residing at St Mark’s College, the University of Adelaide, where he graduated MB BS, at the top of the class, in 1938. He undertook his resident year at the RAH in 1939. He married Barbara Lancaster Beddome on 11th November 1940. She was the daughter of Reginald Lancaster Beddome and Amy Matilda, nee Byard. Her mother appeared to be widowed at the time of their marriage and lived at Mylor, SA. Game and his wife had two children; Christopher John Aylward Game, a medical practitioner, with an interest in neurophysiology, and Elizabeth Aylward Game who trained as a lawyer and later worked in information technology.

Game enlisted in the RAAF in 1940, and was appointed at the rank of squadron leader.  He was stationed was Temora, NSW in August 1941. Game also served in Morotai and Singapore rising to the rank of Group Captain. Game was responsible for the medical care of rescued prisoners of war in their flights back to Australia from Singapore. He was discharged in 1947. There is no detailed record of his service.

Game was the commanding officer of the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Victoria, for two years after the war. He obtained the MD (Melbourne) in 1947. Travelling to London on a Red Cross scholarship he was a house physician at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London in 1947, and SHO in 1948. He was able to train with the doyens of British neurology including Sir Charles Symonds and Sir Francis Walshe. Returning to Australia he was appointed honorary assistant neurologist and later honorary consultant neurologist at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, from 1955. He was dedicated to his work and sometimes his Saturday ward rounds would finish at 3pm; outpatients would usually go well into the evening. He was a founding member (1950) and later president of the Australian Association of Neurologists. He and neurosurgical colleague, Keith Bradley, founded the Australian Neurological Foundation (later known as the Australian Brain Foundation) in 1970. He was created an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1982 for service to medicine, particularly neurology. He was described as an outstanding neurologist, respected and admired by his colleagues and patients. An excellent teacher, very much in the English style, his early resignation from the teaching hospital in 1963 was a great loss to the community. He continued in private practice. Eventually ill health forced his retirement from clinical practice in the mid-eighties but he continued to take a keen interest in neurological issues until shortly before his death after a long and debilitating battle with Parkinson’s disease. John Aylward Game died on 4th December 1995. His wife Barbara and their two children survived him.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears III: Medical Practitioners South Australia, who Served in World War 2. 

Swain, Jelly, Verco, Summers. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2019. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD