Australian Flying Corps
Killed In Action
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George Pinnock Merz (Lt.) was born in Melbourne but attended the Humffray Street State School in Ballarat. He served in the Melbourne University Rifles pre-war and enlisted in Ballarat on November 27th 1914 as a 23 year old, unmarried, medical practitioner. He joined the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force against the Germans in Papua and New Guinea. On the completion of that task he re-enlisted in May 1915, and was posted to the Australian Flying Corps for service in Mesopotamia. On an operation in July 1915 his plane's engine failed and forced him to land in the desert. He and his co-pilot were attacked and killed by Arabs. His body was never recovered and his name is recorded on the Basra War Memorial, Iraq.
