Stanley George Savige, KBE, CB, DSO, MC, ED was an Australian Army soldier and officer who served in the First World War and Second World War. Savige served on the Western Front, where he was twice recommended for the Military Cross for bravery. He later commanded the 17th Infantry Brigade in the North African Campaign, the Battle of Greece and Syria–Lebanon Campaign. After the war he played a key role in the establishment of Legacy Australia, the war widows and orphans benefit fund. He died in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1998, at the age of 87.
About Stanley Savige in brief
Stanley George Savige, KBE, CB, DSO, MC, ED was an Australian Army soldier and officer who served in the First World War and Second World War. Savige served on the Western Front, where he was twice recommended for the Military Cross for bravery. He later commanded the 17th Infantry Brigade in the North African Campaign, the Battle of Greece and Syria–Lebanon Campaign. He ultimately rose to the rank of lieutenant general in the Australian Army, commanding the II Corps in the Bougainville Campaign. After the war he played a key role in the establishment of Legacy Australia, the war widows and orphans benefit fund. In later life, Savige was a director of Olympic Tyre & Rubber Ltd from 1946 to 1951 and chairman of Moran & Cato Ltd from 1950 to 1951. He was also chairman of the Central War Gratuity Board from 1946 to 1951, and a commissioner of the State Savings Bank of Victoria. He wrote a book, Stalky’s Forlorn Hope, about his experiences, about the Gallipoli Campaign and the Caucasus Campaign of 1918-1919. His outspoken criticism of professional soldiers earned him their rancour. He died in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1998, at the age of 87. He is buried in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran, with his wife, Lilian Stockton, and their three children. He also had a son, Peter, who was born on 26 June 1890, in Morwell, Victoria. The eldest of eight children to Samuel Savige and his wife Ann Nora, née Walmsley.
He worked as a blacksmith’s striker at Korumburra State School from 1907 to 1909. In 1913, he enlisted in the school junior cadets as a bugler. In 1915, he was posted to the 24th Infantry Battalion, which departed Melbourne for Egypt on the transport Euripides on 8 May 1915. He became a company sergeant major on 20 September, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 9 November 1915. In 1918, he joined Dunsterforce and served in the Caucasus Campaign, during which he was instrumental in protecting thousands of Assyrian refugees. In early 1942, he commanded the 3rd Division in the Salamaua–Lae campaign. He met his wife Lilian on New Year’s Day, 1914, when he was engaged to her, and they were married the next day. He served in operations at Pozières and Mouquet Farm in July and August 1916. In February 1917, the German Army began a withdrawal from its positions in the Somme sector in the Hindenburg Line. On 8 November he was wounded at Flers, but remained on duty. On 20 December he was admitted to hospital, suffering from influenza, but was appointed adjutant of the 2nd Division, which was opposite the village of 2ndDivision. On 3 February 1917 he was adjutantship of the 2nd Division, opposite the village of Hindenburg. On 5 January 1917, he rejoined the 24th Battalion on 3 February. On 12 April he became battalion intelligence officer and he was promoted to lieutenant on 1 May.
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