With thanks to Pam Connan, great-niece of George Usher, for sharing his story.

From the day he sailed from Melbourne, George (as he was always known by family) kept in contact with regular letters to his mother, Mary. In turn, Mary replied keeping him informed of all the local news of family, friends, neighbours and local community happenings. She was a faithful correspondent, and it appears she never waited for a letter to arrive for her to reply. It was for her a way of feeling in touch.

The family have treasured all the letters that George wrote to his mother and, quite remarkably, have all the letters that Mary wrote to George after he was declared missing, as the Army returned them all. It is with great sadness that family have read the letters and share the grief as she innocently wrote not knowing they would never be read.

The family were sent a telegram – still safely in the family’s possession - to say George was missing. This arrived on 2 September 1916. One cannot even begin to grasp the despair that must have been felt on receiving that news – a despair exacerbated by the length of time it took for information to reach the family. In a letter that Mary wrote to the Army in March 1917, she requested any information that could be forthcoming and concluded her letter saying simply, "I am this soldier's Mother." This sentence says so much and how desperately helpless she must have felt.

In April 1917, Mary received a letter saying that another soldier had sighted George and that he was in the UK recuperating from pneumonia. This sadly turned out to be incorrect as it related to another Private Usher in the same Battalion and not her son. False hope. One can only imagine the confusion, angst and grief that this gave the family.

The Usher family established Usher's Shoe Store in Bay Street, Brighton and it remained in family hands after being handed down to George’s brother, Norman (Pam Connan’s grandfather). In a way, it was a fortunate thing, as much of the family’s history (including George’s correspondence) wasn't moved around but stayed in one place.

George was a shoemaker and salesman prior to enlisting having been apprenticed to prominent Melbourne boot manufacturers, Marshall & Co.. No doubt, if he had returned from the war, he would have been the natural choice as the eldest son to take over the business. As events transpired, George’s younger brother, Norman, a farmer, returned from the Mallee in 1920 to work and manage the shoe store which he did until retirement in 1955.

Enlisting in July 1915, George undertook training with the 22nd Battalion at the Broadmeadows camp. They embarked from Melbourne on HMAT A38 Ulysses arriving in Egypt in late November. In early 1916, George was transferred as part of the post-Gallipoli re-organisation of the AIF, first to the 57th Battalion and then a few weeks later to the 59th Battalion.

George was hospitalised for a short while with high fevers but returned to serve with the 59th Battalion until they left Egypt for France in June. In his last letter home to his mother dated 2 July 1916, he described France as ‘the most beautiful country I have ever seen’. The following extracts tell part of his experience in France:

Less than a month after arrival, they were in the trenches and about to engage in their first major battle. According to the Australian War Memorial, “The battle of Fromelles was a disaster for the 59th. Attacking in the first wave, the 59th suffered heavy casualties at the hands of German machine-gunners, and its advance faltered far short of its objective.”

In the aftermath of the battle, George was reported as missing on 19 July 1916 with the family being notified by telegram on 2 September 1916, pictured below.

A court of enquiry held in the field on 29 August 1917 pronounced George’s fate as 'Killed in Action, 19 July 1916' but no specific details were known. As his mother noted in a 1921 letter to the army:

There is no definitive information about how George met his fate and initial enquiries were made more complicated by a mix-up with another Private Usher in the 59th Battalion – Private 2448 Gordon Rupert Usher. Reports by comrades that George had been wounded and was recovering in Etaples, France were incorrect, relating instead to the other Private Usher.

There was also an unconfirmed report from Lance Corporal 3093A George Horsey, 59th Battalion, about Private George Usher that:

Horsey qualified his evidence however stating that he was:

There is nothing further on file to confirm or contradict Horsey’s version of events but we do note as an aside that Lance Corporal Horsey was awarded a Military Medal for his work at Fromelles. He worked all night under trying conditions after he volunteered to go out to rescue wounded men under heavy shrapnel and machine gun fire on the night of 19/20 July 1916 and again on the night of 20/21 July. Horsey’s evidence also gives credence to a handwritten note on George’s AIF Personnel file (page 4) that George was “Presumed Buried in No Man's Land approx 5J90-43 to 5K0.25.1 Sheet Hazebrouck 5a”.

It seems that George’s family were never to know the particulars about his death, but his mother received a letter from General Birdwood advising that Sergeant Davies may have been the last to see George alive. Sergeant Davies advised that he went forward with George in the third line of attack but they became separated.

Nothing further is known and, to this day, George has no known grave. He is however commemorated at VC Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial at Fromelles and on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour in Canberra.

So, while there was a great deal of correspondence and worry around George, his youngest brother, Reg, would also have been part of continuing deep concern, as he was severely wounded. Reg was a bank clerk who joined up on 18 August 1916 at age 19. At that time, the family would have known that George was in the trenches but would not yet have known that he was missing.

Reg was assigned to the 60th Battalion and left Australia on 2 October 1916. On arrival in England, Reg was promptly hospitalised for some weeks with the measles. After his recovery, Reg was posted to France in January 1917. He served on the Western Front until he was wounded on 25 September 1917 having been blown up by a shell on the Menin Road. He underwent some months of treatment in France and England for neurological and shell-shock symptoms arising from the head injury.

In March 1918, Reg was returned to Australia and then discharged as medically unfit. He did, however, re-enlist in World War 2 in the Citizens Military Forces (Service Number V159870).