GREAVES, George Frederick

George Greaves was 22 years old when he enlisted on 22 March 1915. He listed his occupation as "labourer"; his father, Alfred, was a jeweller and the family came from England at some time after 1901, as the UK Census of that year has the family living at Smethwick, Worcestershire. They arrived in Melbourne on 20 January, 1911 as unassisted immigrants.

George Greaves was one of eight brothers and three sisters. One brother, Alfred, was to die at Ypres. George's enlistment form says that his father was resident at 1 Hoddle Place in East Melbourne, but he subsequently moved to Cooper St, Buckley Park, Essendon.

George was 5' 5.75" in height, and weighed 10 stone; he had blue eyes and brown hair, and his religion is stated as Church of England. He had "small tattoos" on his left forearm. He was at first attached to the 21st Battalion, 

George left Melbourne on 8 May 1915 on HMAT Euripides, landing in Egypt, then proceeding on to the Gallipoli Peninsula to join the fighting. He received a gunshot wound to his left foot at Gallipoli on 22 September 1915, and returned to his unit from hospital on 28 September. After his discharge from hospital, he was transferred from the 21st Battalion and taken on strength on 9 March, 1916 with the 6th Australian  Machine Gun Company. He arrived at Marseilles on 24 March 1916. On 3 September, 1916 he was transferred again, from the 1st Australian Machine Gun Company to the 24th Battalion. 

He was by now on the Western Front with its grim statistics of the wounded and dying. On 22 September, he received another gunshot wound and on 27 October was promoted to Lance Corporal 'in the field to complete establishment', which meant to replace a dead soldier of that rank. 

Greaves was appointed Lance Corporal in France on 27 October 1916. On 3 May, 1917 he was again wounded, with gunshot wounds in his left leg and right arm. This would most likely have occurred at the Second Battle of Bullecourt, where the 24th Battalion suffered 80% causalties on that day, according to the Australian War Memorial record. He was sent first to the the 38th Casualty Clearing Station, then back to England, where he was admitted to the War Hospital at Stratford on Avon, Staffordshire, then discharged on 20 June, and passed on to Clapton War Hospital. On release he was given furlough in England and then marched in to the No. 1 Command Depot at Perham Downs on 14 August, 1917 before once more heading off back to the war on the Western Front.

He was ill on 18 September, 1917, and placed in the No. 39 General Hospital at Le Havre. He was discharged to duty on 3 December, 1917, and rejoined the 24th Battalion on 11 December. On 23 March, 1918 he was again transferred, this time to the 2nd Australian Machine Gun Battalion. In a letter dated the same day he requested to revert to the rank of private on being transferred to the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion.

George Greaves marched out from France to England on 15 January, 1919. He returned to Melbourne on HS Warwickshire on on 18 May and was discharged from further service on 27 July, 1919. He must have been a most courageous, resilient and determined young man, to have fought both at Gallipoli and on the Western Front in a period of service which saw him wounded three times and which lasted from 1915 till 1919. 

He died at Heidelberg, probably at the Repatriation Hospital on September 25, 1963.