Service Number: 1348
Unit: 19th Battalion, D Company
Enlistment: 31/3/15
Embarkment: 25/6/15
Date of Death: 28/8/15
Location of Death: Hill 60
His Story
George Sidney Woodcock was 22 years old when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. A single carpenter from Gladesville, he joined D Company of the 19th Battalion and embarked for Egypt.
After training in Egypt, George and the 19th Battalion landed at Anzac Cove in mid-August 1915, arriving amid the chaos of the Battle of Hill 60, the last major offensive of the Gallipoli campaign.
Hill 60 was a strategic rise at the northern end of the Anzac line. From 21 to 29 August, the Anzacs launched a series of desperate attacks to capture this ground from the entrenched Ottoman forces. The 19th Battalion joined the battle in its final, most brutal days.
“Advancing across exposed slopes and shattered scrub, the men were cut down by machine guns and enfilading fire. Whole sections were pinned down or wiped out before they reached the first trench.”
(Battle of Hill 60, Page 1)
On 27 August, George was carrying messages between headquarters under heavy fire. A telegram initially reported him “wounded, not seriously.” But the next message shattered the family’s hope…
George had died on 28 August 1915, reportedly from a severely fractured skull caused by shrapnel.
There are multiple differing accounts of his death. One witness claimed to have seen him struck by a shell fragment on 17 September. This later date caused confusion, but it was believed George had swapped dog tags with a friend for good luck — a gesture of camaraderie that would explain the army’s confusion on his injury and death.
Most eyewitnesses agreed:
“Woodcock was hit while taking messages to HQ. He was seen being carried away, badly wounded.”
(Ryde Goes to War, Page 287)
He died aboard a hospital ship and was buried at sea.
When George’s belongings were returned to his family, among them was a lock of hair and a small testament addressed to Miss M. Le Breton, the daughter of his father’s childhood friend. These small tokens offered his loved ones a way to grieve, to remember, to hold on.
Though his name is carved in the Lone Pine Memorial, George Woodcock’s story is written in the quiet grief of those who waited for him, in the letters home, and in the courage shown on that bloodied hill.
