Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

01/07/1915

Date of Discharge

06/11/1919

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

29/03/1895

Place of Birth

Malvern, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Alice Vasey (mother), Barry Street, Kew, Victoria

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

3 Division HQ AIF

Distinguished Service Order (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No.173, 7 November 1918)
Mention in Despatches (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No.165, 24 October 1918)
Mention in Despatches (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No.124, 30 October 1919)

Vasey entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon with the third intake of cadets in March 1913 and graduated in June 1915. Three days later he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 11th Battery of the 4th Field Artillery Brigade and arrived in France in March 1916. He was promoted to Captain in August 1916 and appointed Adjutant of the 22nd Field Artillery Brigade in October 1916 and commander of the 13th Battery the following month. The next year he trained as a Staff Officer and was again promoted, serving as Brigade Major for the 11th Infantry Brigade until the end of the war. He remained in the army and at the start of World War 2 he was appointed as Chief Administrative Officer of the 6th Division and served in the Middle East in that role until given command of the 19th Infantry Brigade in March 1941, leading them in Greece and Crete before returning to Australia in 1942. In September 1942 he was sent to Papua to command the 6th Division but the following month was instead appointed to lead the 7th Division during the final stages of the Kokoda campaign and the battles against the Japanese on the north coast of Papua. Vasey commanded the 7th Division during the battles in the Ramu and Markham valleys of New Guinea but fell ill and returned to Australia for treatment. After recovering Vasey was  on his way to assume command of the 6th Division, then fighting in the Wewak region of New Guinea, when his aircraft crashed into the sea near Cairns on 5 March 1945. He was buried in Cairns Cemetery with full military honours. Vasey Crescent in Campbell is named after him.

AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
AWM Honours & Awards
AWM Collections Record : H01891
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
Chester Wilmot, 'Tobruk 1941', 1944 (pp. 63-65)
Australian Dictionary of Biography online
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/vasey-george-alan-11914/text21343, published in hardcopy 2002, accessed online 16 April 2014