Vernon Sturdee
Vernon Ashton Hobart Sturdee, KBE, CB, DSO was an Australian Army commander who served two terms as Chief of the General Staff. He was one of the original Anzacs during the First World War, participating in the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. As commander of the First Army in New Guinea in 1944–45, he directed the fighting at Aitape, and on New Britain and Bougainville.
About Vernon Sturdee in brief
Vernon Ashton Hobart Sturdee, KBE, CB, DSO was an Australian Army commander who served two terms as Chief of the General Staff. He was one of the original Anzacs during the First World War, participating in the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. He served in a series of staff posts, and attended the Staff College at Quetta in British India and the Imperial Defence College in Britain. As commander of the First Army in New Guinea in 1944–45, he directed the fighting at Aitape, and on New Britain and Bougainville. In 1946, he had to demobilise the wartime Army while fielding and supporting the Australian contingent of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. He developed a structure for the post-war Army that included regular combat formations. As a result, the Australian Regular Army was formed, laying the foundations for the service as it exists today. In 1950, he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. He died in Melbourne, Australia, on 4 February 1983. He is buried at St. Luke’s Church, North Fitzroy, Melbourne, with his wife, Laura Isabell, née Merrett, and their two children, David and Victoria, in the Melbourne suburb of Stony Point. The couple had a son, David, and a daughter, Victoria, who was born in 1903 and died in 2006. He has a son and daughter-in-law, both of whom are also Australian Army officers. He had three sons and one daughter, who died in 2010.
He also had a step-son, David Sturdees, who served in the Australian Army Medical Corps and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in December 1912. He later became a colonel and a brigadier general. He retired from the Army in 1946. He received three more mentions in despatches and was appointed a Companion. of the. Order of. St Michael, St George, and the Australian Order of the St. George. His son David died in 2011 and he is buried in St. James’ Palace, Melbourne. He and his wife had three children, all of whom were born in Australia. The family had two sons and two step-children, who also died in Australia in 2010 and 2011. The father and step-daughter died in 2012 and the mother died in 2013. The husband and father-of-two were both Australian Army medical officers. The son was a captain in the Royal Australian Engineers and a colonel in the Militia. He joined the Australian Imperial Force on 25 August 1914 with the rank of lieutenant and appointed adjutant of the 1st Division of the Engineers. In 1918 he was seconded to General Headquarters British Expeditionary Force as a staff officer. He commanded the 5th Field Company, before going on to lead the 8th Field. Company and the 4th Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front. In 1940 he was raised to lieutenant general in 1940. He succeeded General Sir Thomas Blamey as Commander in Chief of. the Australian Military Forces.
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