By MICHELLE HERBISON
GEORGE Wilfred Stewart was just nine days off his 24th birthday when he was killed in the Third Battle of Ypres, France, during World War I.
But the young Mallee farmer’s memory lives on through great-niece Shirley Drayton, who spent 12 months compiling a book to commemorate his life.
Ms Drayton, of Ocean Grove, compiled her A5-size book by hand using documents, photographs and vintage ephemera including army buttons, badges and medals.
“I just wanted to remember him in some sort of tangible way. It turned out with a lot more pages than I anticipated,” she told the Independent.
Ms Drayton’s entry of the tribute book in a Sands of Gallipoli competition has put her in the running to win a $25,000 trip to Gallipoli in 2015.
“That would be fantastic. I’d been making it anyway and I just thought it fitted in.”
Ms Drayton visited the Shrine of Remembrance and online national archives to collect her great-uncle’s service record.
She collected photographs of his grave in Belgium, a photo of himself and two army mates and a letter he sent home while on leave at Glasgow.
“I’ve also got a certificate for king and country with his name on it and real buttons and army badges.”
Mr Stewart received a Victory Medal, a 1914-1915 Star and a British War Medal, Ms Drayton said.
Her interest in her great-uncle stemmed from her father and his service during World War II.
“My father was born three years after the death of George and was named after his uncle.”
The Sands of Gallipoli competition closed last Friday, seeking poems, photographs and other memories linking the Anazc spirit with contemporary Australia.
