George Foreman represents a little told story of Australian soldiers who contracted venereal disease during the Great War.
The official response was to isolate the patients, which included sending them back Australia where the cutting-edge VD hospital had been established in Langwarrin, Victoria. Such was the fate of Foreman, who had played for Caledonians in Toowoomba before enlisting in 1914 and being assigned as a Driver in the Field Artillery Brigade 3. In July 1915 he was diagnosed with early-stage syphilis in Egypt before being sent to Langwarrin. Here he successfully recovered and was placed on the reserve list in Melbourne.
At this point things became uncertain. He successfully requested a transfer to the Queensland reserves, who were due to depart Australia at a later date. Once in Queensland, he requested a leave pass to visit family. This was rejected, leading to Littleton Ernest Groom, Toowoomba’s Federal MP and later speaker of the house, writing directly to the Defence Secretary on Foreman’s behalf. This too was rejected as not setting a precedent.
Returning VD soldiers were known to go AWOL after they had recovered, so they were typically returned to the war as quickly as possible. Foreman never returned, and it is uncertain what happened. He was eventually discharged in 1916, with the official reason documentation claiming it was “at his own request”. Mother lived in Toowoomba, this our George.