Cupid Hates Him

Major Gerald Bayley Carter, was for 13 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps and retired on 20 November 1911 in Britain with the rank of Major. Almost immediately he emigrated with his wife and young son to Australia and New Zealand where he set up general practices for a short time. Forever a military man Carter joined the AIF in 1914 and sailed to Egypt with the first convoy. He worked at Gallipoli as a Regimental Medical Officer for seven months with the Auckland Battalion first and then with the Tasmanian 12th Battalion AIF. Back in Cairo in February 1916 he was given fourteen days leave. On the second night Britisher Major General Spens spied him asleep in a chair in the lounge room of the hotel and vindictively ordered he be charged with drunkenness. Medical evidence tells that Major Carter was suffering from neurasthenia (PTSD). In spite of his illness a court martial found him guilty and sentenced him to be returned to Australia and dismissed from His Majesty's Service. There is clear evidence commonsense, respect and good leadership went out the window because of sycophantic Australian officers in Cairo. 'An offence of drunkennes committed when the offender is not on duty or has not been warned for duty is as a rule sufficiently dealt with by the imposition of a fine' - War Office, Manual of Military Law, 1914, p.22 para 30. - Author This is a tragic and heart wrenching tale of the dedicated service of generations of one family giving willingly to their community, to the Church, to medicine, to the military and for their country across time, across the globe and across appalling circumstances. We are reminded that if we do not learn from history, it repeats. - David Sullivan, Forensic Psychologist.