GIBSON, George Stormonth Henry

The son of James Henry Gibson and his wife, Rosetta Priscilla Overan, George Stormonth Gibson was 27 years old when he enlisted on 17 August, 1914. He was a fitter by trade and, at the time of enlistment, was a single man living with his mother and sister Jean at 92 Gipps Street, East Melbourne. He belonged to the Church of England and would have attended Holy Trinity CHurch in Hotham Street. Following minimal training, he was attached to H Company 6th Battalion, part of the 2nd Brigade of the AIF and set sail with the first fleet of transport ships on board HMAT Hororata A20 on 19 October to Albany, Western Australia and on to Egypt. 

The 6th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF. They were recruited from Victoria and arrived in Egypt on 2 December, 1914.  George Gibson would have spent the fist few months in training, before the 6th Battalion set off for the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Anzac Landing. Here the 6th Battalion was part of the second wave of ANZAC soldiers to storm the beach. Ten days later, they were moved to take part in the assault on the village of Krithia. On 1 May, 1915, George Gibson was injured with a gunshot wound which went through to his lung. He was taken back to Egypt and 8 May, was admitted to the No. 5 Indian Government Hospital at Alexandria. on 31 July, 1915, he was moved to the No. 1 Australian General Hospital at Heliopolis, near Cairo. It was the end of his military career and on 15 August, he was returned to Australian on board the Themistocles. He arrived back in Melbourne on 9 September, 1915, eleven months since he left Australia for the war. A subsequent attempt to enlist again was denied because of his health.

In 1919, George Gibson was living with his mother at 1 Majore St., Hawthorn and described himself as a soldier. In 1928, he married the widowed Stella Alice Newman and became stepfather to her three sons, William, Augustus and Leo. He found work after the war with the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works, but died at home, 115 Park Street, St Kilda, as the result of a bullet lodged in his lung for eighteen years. His obituary can be found in The Age 1 January, 1934, P.1