George Appleton

Not everyone who enlisted was sent overseas to fight. Some, though no fault of their own, were given an early discharge. George Appleton was one such person.

George was born on May 31, 1893, at Ournie, New South Wales. He was the fifth of eight children of William Jeremiah and Sarah Ann Frances (Nee Jones) Appleton. Tragedy struck the family in early February of 1903 when George’s oldest brother Ernest died of acute tuberculosis at the age of 18. In late October of 1911, a further tragedy occurred when George’s younger brother Thomas drowned in the Murray River when his boat sank. Like young men of that age, George was a member of the Walwa Rifle Club.

On 31 July 1915, Dr Greenham passed George as physically fit to enlist in the AIF. A week later, he enlisted at Melbourne, Victoria. He was allocated the Service Number 4501 and posted to A Company of the 20th Depot Battalion at Castlemaine in central Victoria. After having arrived in camp, George began having severe pains in his side. He was diagnosed with appendicitis and transferred to hospital. One month after the operation, and back with the battalion, he once again began suffering from severe pain, especially when he coughed. It was found that scar tissue from the operation had caused problems. Refusing further operations, he was discharged as medically unfit on 12 January 1916.

While in camp at Castlemaine, George had met Millice Myrtle Rice. They married in 1916, with their first child, Hilda Gladys, being born the previous year. The young family moved back to Walwa, where their son, William, was born on 19 February, 1917. They moved back to Castlemaine and, over the next twenty years, added six more children: two girls and four boys. Unfortunately, Ronald, born in 1931, would die before his second birthday. Before Ronald’s birth, the family moved to Kangaroo Flat, near Bendigo, where they ran a poultry farm.

George passed away on 9 August 1958 in Castlemaine and was buried in the Castlemaine General Cemetery. Millice lived until 1988 and was buried alongside George.