Edsall, George

George Edsall

5012 Pte. George Edsall was born at Cobden in 1882 to Charles James Edsall and Janet Gemmell.He was a farmer on Phillip Island with his father when he enlisted on 1^st March 1916 at Melbourne with the 13/21^st Battalion.  The unit embarked from Melbourne on3^rd July 1916 on HMAT Ayrshire and disembarked at Plymouth on 2^nd September. He was taken on strength with the 6^th Training Battalion on 3^rd September.

George proceeded overseas to France from Folkstone on 12^th November 1916 and was taken on strength of the 21^st Battalion on 22^nd November at Dernancourt.  During an attack on Noreuil on 20^th March 1917 he was wounded in action with a severe gun shot wound to the right arm and was admitted to the Kitchener Military Hospital Brighton, on 24^th March. On 14^th May he was transferred from Middlesex War Hospital, London to the 3^rdAuxilliary Hospital, Dartford.  He was discharged from the 3^rdAuxilliary Hospital to furlough and repatriation at Wareham on 19^th June.

He proceeded overseas to France on 24^th July 1918 and rejoined the Battalion on 29^th July.

George was wounded in action on 8^th August 1918, the first day of the Battle of Amiens, the start of the Hundred Days Offensive.  He was hit by a shell during the attack at Villers Brettonneux with both bones broken in the left leg.  He was admitted to the General Military Hospital, Edmontonon 22^nd August. He transferred to the 3^rdAuxilliary Hospital Dartford on 2^nd April and was discharged on 6^th May 1919.  He embarked for Australia the same day on HT Karoola.

He returned to farming on the island until the early twenties when he moved to Drysdale then Longwarry. He married Florence Louisa Johnson in 1940 and moved to Brighton where he was a timber worker.

George died on 22^nd September 1958 at Heidelberg.  He was cremated at The Necropolis, Springvale.