On 18th August 1914, Gordon was the 327th Australian soldier to enlist in the First World War. He lied to enlist, saying he was 21 years old, when he was only 16 and sailed from Melbourne on the ‘Shropshire’, which is believed to be the first, or one of the first, military ships to depart Australia.

Gordon was attached to the 2nd Australian Field Artillery Ambulance Brigade which landed on the Gallipoli peninsula at Anzac Cove on 25th April 1915 and set up a hospital on Brighton Beach, one of three main landing sites for the AIF.

During the following months, ships transported thousands of the wounded to hospitals on the nearby islands. Conditions on the battlefields were appalling with thousands contracting dysentery so it was not surprising that Gordon fell ill and on 28th August, was evacuated to No. 3 Hospital on Lemnos, one of the aforementioned islands.

On 6th September, Gordon was transferred to Endell Military Hospital in London and a month later, he was well enough to leave and spent the next 18 weeks at a military convalescent hospital in Epsom.

Newly promoted to Corporal, he re-joined his unit on 16th February 1916 and sailed from Weymouth bound for Alexandria in Egypt. As the Gallipoli campaign was now over, the Brigade was transferred to the European theatre of the conflict and they arrived in Marseilles on 28th March.

His unit travelled by train to the Pas de Calais region of Northern France where they set up the first of dozens of clearing stations and field hospitals where they worked, often under heavy fire, to provide aid and comfort to the wounded and dying.

Gordon is buried in Dikkebus near Ypres, so it was assumed that at the time, his unit was stationed in this area and in order to verify this, reference was made to war diaries.

In September 1916, the unit was stationed in Ypres but only for a short while before being re-located. Indeed, on the day Gordon was killed, 2nd Ambulance had only just established a Casualty Clearing Station near Caestre in France –- some 100 miles south of Ypres. In that case, why is Gordon buried in Dikkebus, only a few miles from Ypres, when 2nd Ambulance was nowhere near at the time?

During this research, it was noticed that the 2nd Australian Field Artillery Brigade was often mentioned in the war diaries of the 2nd Ambulance. Furthermore, after Gordon’s death, a letter of condolence was sent to his mother by a Captain H.H. Willis of 2nd Field Artillery and his war record indicates that on 23rd July 1917 (eight days before Gordon was killed), Captain Willis, originally with 2nd Ambulance was posted to 2nd Field Artillery. And a week later, the guns of 2nd Field Artillery were moved -- to Dikkebus!!!

Captain Willis wrote a letter of condolence to Gordon’s mother and it is considered that this is a very relevant passage: "The loss of my A.M.C. (Australian Medical Corps?) Corporal would at any time be a matter of regret and grief to me; but is all the more so in this case as from his long association with the brigade, he had gained the affection and respect of all with whom he came into contact.”

“– his long association with the brigade –”?? Captain Willis seems to have known Gordon for some time and not just the eight days that he was with 2nd Field Artillery so even though there is no proof, it is considered that there is every possibility that Gordon was transferred from 2nd Ambulance along with Captain Willis, having served together for quite a while.

On 31st July 1917, the Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres) commenced and during the ten days prior, 3000 Allied guns had pounded the enemy’s positions and at 0600, 2nd Field Artillery was positioned in the region of Sanctuary Wood – some three miles east of Ypres.

Action commenced at 0920 and continued throughout the day under sporadic but heavy enemy fire. Gordon was wounded at some time during the day – again quoting from Captain Willis’ letter; “He was wounded by a fragment of a high explosive shell in the region of the knee as he was running across the open to the assistance of a wounded comrade. His wound was dressed and he was carried away to the Collecting Station from whence he was sent through to the Main Dressing Station by ambulance car. He suffered a good deal from shock as his wound was a severe one and he died – later in the day”

Gordon would have been brought from the hospital in Ypres to be buried in The Huts cemetery alongside his “mates” – maybe having expressed the wish either formally or otherwise – a wish that was shared amongst many soldiers during the Great War.

Some years later, Gordon’s mother, Alice, travelled from Victoria, Australia, to the battlefields of Belgium to visit the grave which would have been a very challenging journey for a widow travelling alone whilst grieving for her lost son. She carried a large diorama of Australia all the way with her to place on his grave which must have been physically difficult and incredibly sad for her.

On 6th November 1917, for his act of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire, Corporal George Gordon Lord was posthumously awarded the Military Medal.