MACLEOD, Eric Louden (1890-1961)
Eric Louden MacLeod was born on 12 April 1890, the son of John MacLeod and Catherine nee McCann. He became a boarder at Geelong College in 1904. At enrolment, his address was listed as Wendouree Parade, Ballarat. He went on to Ormond College, The University of Melbourne, where he began his medical studies.
During World War I, he enlisted in the AIF on 5 July 1915, and was posted to 14 Depot Battalion as a Lieutenant. He sailed with the 12th Reinforcement Group on HMAT A14 Euripides on 4 April 1916, and arrived in Egypt on 10 May, before being posted to 23 Battalion in Flanders on 20 May. He was invalided from Pozieres on 26 July 1916, and demobilised from the AIF on 31 January 1917 returning to Australia at his own expense. His battalion battle honours were Somme 1916, Pozieres, Bapaume 1917, Bullecourt, Ypres 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Hamel, Amiens, Albert 1918, Mont St Quentin, Hindenburg Line, Beaurevoir, France and Flanders 1916-1918, Suvla, Gallipoli 1915-1916 and Egypt 1915-1917.
During the Second World War he served in the Australian Army Medical Corps, holding the rank of Captain until his discharge on 18 August 1945.
Sources: Based on an edited extract from Geelong Collegians at the Great War compiled by James Affleck. p 258 (citing The University of Melbourne: Record of Active Service of Teachers, Graduates, Undergraduates, Officers and Servants (1926); The Pegasus; National Archives).