AFTER lying in an unmarked grave at the Collie cemetery for 81 years, Gallipoli veteran George Francis Ellemor’s war service was recognised last Thursday.
Fittingly, at the eleventh hour the Last Post rang out, as during a short service conducted by pastor Shayne Goldfinch, company sergeant major Ellemor’s grave was marked with a white cross constructed by members of the Collie-Cardiff RSL.
The clue to the unmarked grave was a jar containing a letter from George’s elderly nephew, Colin Newington, left there some 20 years ago.
While researching gravesites last year, Collie Shire Local Studies researcher Tania Roberts accidentally kicked the jar, and noticed the letter inside it.
She used information from the letter to contact Mr Newington, who told her he and his wife had placed the letter in the jar.
She then passed on the information to the Collie-Cardiff RSL sub-branch in the hopes of having the grave properly marked.
As an interim measure, RSL members Alan Bowers, Peter Tyler and William Goltz constructed and installed the cross.
The RSL contacted the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Office of Australian War Graves to see if George was eligible for a war grave commemoration.
“We are waiting to hear from them, but in the meantime, the boys made the cross to ensure the grave is now marked,” RSL president Gary Benton said.
At the outbreak of the Great War, George and his brother Harry were working at the Worsley Timber Mill.
Both brothers enlisted in the AIF in September, 1914, and were posted to WA’s 11th Infantry Battalion.
On April 25, 1915, the pair went ashore at Gallipoli with the 11th Battalion.
They were both wounded at Gallipoli, but survived, and went on to serve at the Western Front in France.
George was transferred to the 51st Infantry Battalion before he left for France.
In July, 1917, he was promoted to company sergeant major with the 51st Battalion.
In August, 1917, he was hospitalised in France with defective hearing and eyesight from the wounds he received at Gallipoli.
No longer fit for active service, he was sent to England for treatment, and in December, 1917, he was returned to Australia and discharged from service.
He married in 1919, and in 1921 stood in the state elections for the pastoral seat of Cue.
George died in the Collie hospital on February 2, 1942, and was buried at the Collie cemetery.
He was survived by his only son, Maurice, who died in Perth in 1974.