George Alan Vasey Major General George Alan Vasey CB , CBE , DSO and Bar ( 29 March 1895 – 5 March 1945 ) was an Australian soldier . He rose to the rank of Major General during the Second World War , before being killed in a plane crash near Cairns in 1945 . A professional soldier , Vasey graduated from Royal Military College , Duntroon in 1915 and served on the Western Front with the First AIF , for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and twice Mentioned in Despatches . For nearly twenty years , Vasey remained in the rank of major , serving on staff posts in Australia and with the Indian Army . Shortly after the outbreak of Second World War in September 1939 , Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Blamey appointed Vasey to the staff of the 6th Division . In March 1941 , Vasey took command of 19th Infantry Brigade which he led in the Battle of Greece and Battle of Crete . Returning to Australia in 1942 , Vasey was promoted to major general and became Deputy Chief of the General Staff . In September 1942 , he assumed command of the 7th Division , fighting the Japanese in the Kokoda Track campaign and the Battle of Buna - Gona . In 1943 , he embarked on his second campaign in New Guinea , leading the 7th Division in the Landing at Nadzab and the subsequent Finisterre Range campaign . By mid - 1944 , his health had deteriorated to the extent that he was evacuated to Australia , and for a time was not expected to live . By early 1945 he had recovered sufficiently to be appointed to command the 6th Division . While flying to assume this new command , the RAAF Lockheed Hudson aircraft he was travelling in crashed into the sea , killing all on board . Early life . George Alan Vasey was born in Malvern East , Victoria on 29 March 1895 , the third of six children of George Brinsden Vasey , a barrister and solicitor , and his wife Alice Isabel , née McCutcheon . Because his father was also George Vasey , George Alan Vasey ' s family always called him Alan . He was educated at Camberwell Grammar School and Wesley College , Melbourne , where his schoolmates included Robert Menzies and Edward James Milford . At Wesley , Vasey served in the Australian Army Cadets , in which he became a second lieutenant . In 1913 , he entered the Royal Military College , Duntroon in Canberra . Of 33 members of his class , in which Vasey graduated tenth , nine died in the Great War . Six later became generals : Leslie Beavis , Frank Horton Berryman , William Bridgeford , John Austin Chapman , Edward James Milford and George Vasey . The war caused his class to be graduated early , in June 1915 . First World War . Vasey was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Permanent Military Forces ( regular army ) , and joined the First AIF . He was posted to the 2nd Division Artillery , and sailed for Egypt in December 1915 . The 2nd Division moved to France in March 1916 , where Vasey was promoted to captain in August , and given command of the 13th Field Battery in November . In February 1917 Vasey was posted to Brigadier General James Cannan ' s 11th Infantry Brigade as a trainee staff captain . Vasey became Brigade Major of the 11th Infantry Brigade in August 1917 , General Cannan having formed a high opinion of him . The brigade , part of Major General John Monash ' s 3rd Division , was involved in heavy fighting at Messines and Passchendaele , for which Vasey was promoted to major in September 1917 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order . His recommendation read : In July 1918 Vasey was assigned to 3rd Division Headquarters as a staff officer ( GSO3 ) but this appointment was brief ; his successor at the 11th Infantry Brigade was wounded and Vasey returned to his former post . As such , he participated in the defence of Amiens , the Battle of Amiens in August 1918 and the attack on the Hindenburg Line in September . He was also twice Mentioned in Despatches . He served for a time as GSO2 of the 3rd Division before embarking for Australia on 14 September 1919 . Between the wars . Vasey returned to the PMF , in which he held the substantive rank of Lieutenant and the honorary rank of Major . He became so discouraged at his prospects with the Army that , studying at night , he qualified as an accountant . He married Jessie Mary Halbert at St Matthew ' s Church of England , Glenroy , Victoria on 17 May 1921 . They bought a house in Kew , Victoria with a War Service Loan . Vasey held a series of staff postings in Australia and India . From 1928 to 1929 he attended the Staff College at Quetta , India , where Bernard Montgomery was an instructor . In October 1934 he was appointed as a brigade major once more . Following a brief stint as a GSO2 on the headquarters of the 1st Indian Division , his final posting in India was again as a brigade major , from April 1936 to March 1937 . By November 1934 his substantive rank was that of captain , but while he held the brevet and local rank of major , he was not promoted to the substantive rank of major until 1 March 1935 . Vasey was finally promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel on 12 May 1937 , after nearly 20 years as a major , although he was only promoted to the substantive rank on 2 November 1939 . This was not unusual , and it fostered a sense of injustice and frustration among regular officers , who found themselves outranked by CMF officers who had enjoyed faster promotion . Second World War . Middle East and Greece . Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 , Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Blamey appointed Vasey to the 6th Division as his Assistant Adjutant General and Quartermaster General ( AA & QMG ) , the senior logistics staff officer of the division . He received the Second AIF serial number VX9 . Vasey embarked for Palestine as commander of the advance party of the division in December 1939 . Gavin Long noted that Vasey was " highly strung , thrustful , hard working . . . concealed a deeply emotional even sentimental nature behind a mask of laconic and blunt speech . Although he was appointed to head the administrative staff there burned within him a desire to lead Australian troops as a commander . " Nonetheless , Vasey remained AA & QMG during the Battle of Bardia . Following the capture of Tobruk in January 1941 , he replaced Frank Berryman as GSO1 . In March 1941 , Vasey was promoted to temporary Brigadier and took command of the 6th Division ' s 19th Infantry Brigade following the departure of Horace Robertson to Australia on medical grounds . He led it in Greece , suffering a defeat at the Battle of Vevi . Vasey ' s instructions to his men were couched in typical Vasey terms : " Here you bloody well are and here you bloody well stay . And if any bloody German gets between your post and the next , turn your bloody bren around and shoot him up the arse . " The 19th Infantry Brigade was evacuated to Crete , where it fought in the Battle of Crete . Vasey was commended for his work in Crete and was among the last to be evacuated to Egypt , but some 3 , 000 Australians were taken prisoner . Although it was a bitter defeat , Vasey ' s performance was considered outstanding ; he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( CBE ) , awarded a Bar to his DSO , and later the Greek War Cross . Papuan Campaign . Vasey returned to Australia in December 1941 to become Chief of Staff of Home Forces , with the rank of major general , which became substantive on 1 September 1942 . At age 46 , this made him the youngest general in the Australian Army for a time . His new command had the role of training and organising the Army in Australia , a task which became urgent with the entry of Japan into the war . In March 1942 , Vasey , along with Major General Edmund Herring and Brigadier Clive Steele , approached Army Minister Frank Forde with a proposal that all officers over the age of 50 be immediately retired and Major General Horace Robertson appointed Commander in Chief . The " revolt of the generals " collapsed with the welcome news that Blamey was returning from the Middle East to become Commander in Chief . In the reorganisation that followed his return , Blamey appointed Vasey as Deputy Chief of the General Staff ( DCGS ) . The two men worked closely , with Vasey conveying Blamey ' s orders to commanders in the field . With the establishment of Advanced Land Headquarters ( Landops ) at St Lucia , Queensland , Vasey became the principal operational staff officer there . In September 1942 , Blamey decided to send the 6th Division to Papua to help stem the Japanese advance along the Kokoda Trail . He visited Lieutenant General Sydney Rowell , commander of New Guinea Force and I Corps , in Port Moresby and asked him who he would prefer to command the division . Rowell selected Vasey , so Vasey became commander of the 6th Division , and was replaced as DCGS by Berryman . Later that month , General Douglas MacArthur and Prime Minister John Curtin ordered Blamey to take personal command of New Guinea Force . After a falling out , Blamey relieved first Rowell , replacing him with Herring , and then Major General Arthur " Tubby " Allen of the 7th Division . On 27 October , Vasey flew up to Myola to relieve Allen . Under Vasey ' s command , the 7th Division recaptured Kokoda on 2 November . It pushed on towards the north coast of Papua , only to be stopped by the Japanese short of their ultimate objective . The division was forced to fight a bloody battle around Buna , and , together with American troops under Lieutenant General Robert L . Eichelberger , ultimately defeated the Japanese and captured Gona . After the campaign , the 7th Division returned to Australia . The men went on leave before reassembling for training on the Atherton Tableland . Vasey went on leave in Melbourne but wound up being admitted to the Heidelberg Military Hospital for treatment for Malaria . New Guinea Campaign . By July 1943 , the 7th Division was on its way back to Port Moresby . Vasey flew up to work out arrangements with Herring and the air commander in New Guinea , Major General Ennis Whitehead of the US Fifth Air Force . Probably inspired by his experience on Crete , Vasey proposed using paratroops , and pressed his superiors for an entire regiment instead of the battalion he was originally allotted . The new campaign opened in spectacular fashion on 5 September 1943 with a parachute drop of the US 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment in broad daylight to seize the airstrip at Nadzab in the Markham Valley . They were soon reinforced by Australian and Papuan troops that had advanced overland from Wau , and then by the 7th Division ' s 25th Infantry Brigade , which flew in by air . The 25th Infantry Brigade advanced down the Markham Valley and entered Lae on 16 September . The division then advanced up the Markham Valley and down the Ramu Valley . A series of operations followed . First , commandos of the 2 / 6th Independent Company seized Kaiapit in the Battle of Kaiapit on 19 September . Vasey flew there on 21 September in a Piper Cub , followed by his 21st Infantry Brigade , under Brigadier Ivan Dougherty . The 21st Infantry Brigade advanced on Gusap and then Dumpu , where Vasey established his headquarters on 10 October . Finally , it pushed on into the Finisterre Range , where it was halted by logistical difficulties . In the Finisterre Range campaign , the 7th Division captured Shaggy Ridge and advanced across the mountains towards Madang . Death and legacy . Despite his achievements , Vasey was twice passed over for promotion . In November 1943 , the announcement of the appointment of Lieutenant General Iven Mackay as High Commissioner to India , and the subsequent elevation of Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead to command New Guinea Force and Second Army , created a vacancy at II Corps , which was filled by Vasey ' s old rival , Frank Berryman . Then in February 1944 , the appointment of Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria , led to a vacancy at I Corps , for which General Blamey nominated both Vasey and Major General Stanley Savige , but recommended the latter . Army Minister Frank Forde queried Blamey ' s recommendation , which was very unusual , and asked who was the senior officer . On being informed that Savige was senior to Vasey – although not as senior as Arthur " Tubby " Allen or James Cannan — he dropped his objection . General Douglas MacArthur considered Vasey ' s supersession " outrageous " . Yet Blamey had not lost faith in Vasey ; asked at a social function about his opinion of Vasey , Blamey called out to him across the room . " There , ladies and gentlemen , " Blamey declared , " is my ideal fighting commander . " Blamey had reason to be concerned about Vasey ' s health . Vasey was drinking heavily , and was hospitalised in New Guinea in February 1944 with a skin condition , and again in Australia in March 1944 with a respiratory tract infection . In June 1944 , he became seriously ill with malaria and acute Peripheral neuropathy , and for a time was not expected to live . 7th Division soldiers in the hospital constantly asked the nursing staff about his progress . The men called him ' Bloody George ' , not after his casualties , but after his favourite adjective , and Vasey ' s personable style of command attracted immense loyalty from his men . " Vasey owns the 7th , " wrote a Melbourne journalist , " but every man in the division believes he owns Vasey . " He was again Mentioned in Despatches on 21 July 1944 . Vasey slowly recovered . In October 1944 , Blamey set up a Post - War Army Planning Committee headed by Vasey to report on the future of the Royal Military College and the training and education of Staff Corps officers . Vasey called for a greatly expanded regular army of 20 , 000 men . His report recommended that the course at Duntroon be deepened professionally and academically to the level of an undergraduate university degree . The report ' s recommendations were not accepted or welcomed by the government but pointed the way to the future , in which the Army would become increasingly professional . In February 1945 , Frank Forde pressed for Vasey to be given another active command . Blamey , who still had doubts about Vasey ' s physical fitness despite Vasey being given an A by an Army medical board , reluctantly appointed him to command the 6th Division , then in action in the Aitape - Wewak campaign . Vasey flew north to take up his new command . The aircraft Vasey was travelling in , RAAF Lockheed Hudson A16 - 118 , took off from RAAF Station Archerfield on the afternoon of 5 March 1945 . Due to a cyclone that was ravaging the Queensland coast at the time , the aircraft crashed into the sea about out from Machans Beach , just north of the mouth of the Barron River , short of the Cairns Airport . Vasey was killed in the crash along with all those on board . He became the fourth most senior Australian officer to die in the Second World War , after General Sir Cyril Brudenell White ( who died in another Hudson crash in 1940 ) , Lieutenant General Henry Wynter , and Major General Rupert Downes ( who died in the same plane crash as Vasey ) . Vasey ' s body was recovered from the crash site and was buried with full military honours in Cairns cemetery along with those of Downes and Lieutenant Colonel G . A . Bertram . Generals Blamey and Morshead were chief mourners . For pall bearers , Vasey had Major Generals Edward Milford and George Wootten and Brigadiers Frederick Chilton , Ivan Dougherty , Kenneth Eather , John O ' Brien , Henry Wells and David Whitehead . Vasey ' s concern for his men outlived him . Jessie would go on to found the War Widow ' s Guild , serving as its president until her death in 1966 . Thus , " the legacy of George Vasey ' s war was a more compassionate Australian society . " As a military commander , Vasey demonstrated that a regular officer could be an " ideal fighting commander " and not just a competent staff officer . Vasey hastened the post - war transition of the Australian Army to a professional force dominated by regular soldiers . Historian David Horner wrote : " Not only was his command marked by tactical flair , innovation and imagination , but he also displayed remarkable qualities of leadership in adverse situations . Vasey led not just through technical expertise but by example , personality , and a genuine concern for his men . " Today , Vasey ' s papers are in the National Library of Australia , and his decorations are held by the Australian War Memorial , as is his portrait . A final Mention in Despatches was published three days after his death . The Mulgrave Shire Council ( Cairns ) named the esplanade at Trinity Beach " Vasey Esplanade " in his honour and erected a plaque on a brick memorial wall to commemorate all eleven service personnel lost in the crash .