Name: George Sydney Nelson
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Date of birth: c. 1892
Place of birth: Melbourne, Victoria
Link to Wagga: Hometown
Date of enlistment: March 19, 1915
Age at enlistment: 23 years
Occupation: Labourer
Religion: Church of England
Next of Kin: Wife, Lillian Nelson
Battalion or Regiment: 54th Battalion
Battlefields: Gallipoli, Palestine, France
Outcome: Returned to Australia, ‘City of Exeter’, January 15, 1919
GEORGE Sidney 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 August 30,1915.
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.
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 June 19, 1916, George joined the British Expeditionary Forces in Alexandria, and proceeded to the Western Front 10 days later.
The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express of June 2, 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 April 20, 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.
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”.
George rejoined the 54th Battalion on August 20, 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.
On September 29, 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) 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:
September 9, 1916, awarded 36 days F.P. No. 25 for when on active service absenting himself without leave from August 27 to September 2; May 11,1917, 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. For this, George was arrested awaiting trial from April 25, 1917, until May 11, 1917; May 15, 1917, awarded 14 days F.P. No. 2 for being A.W.L. when under open arrest from May 13, 1917, until May, 14, 1917; August 26, 1917, sentenced by F.G.C.M. to nine months imprisonment with hard labour for “when A/S committing an offence against an inhabitant of the country, in that he at Lyne, assaulted Madam Beve and Estaminet Keeper at Lynde, by striking her about the face and when A/S committing a civil offence that is stealing, in that he at Lynde did steal a purse containing money from Madam Beve. (He was found not guilty of the first charge and guilty of the second charge).
On October 14, 1917, George was admitted to 3rd Australian Field Ambulance.
Two days later, while under escort aboard an ambulance train, he jumped out of the train at Malannay.
On October 24, he was declared illegal absentee by Court of Enquiry.
He was found on January 11, 1918, and admitted to military prison on January 24.
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 April 24, 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.