Born in 1895 in Wondai, Queensland, farmer Gale Simpson was the son of Jack Simpson of Kilkivan in Queensland. Gale enlisted in Maryborough on the 29th May 1917.
On the 1st August 1917, Pte Simpson embarked from Sydney on the A7 Transport ship SS Orita for Halifax, then on to Liverpool where he disembarked on the 3rd of October 1917. By the end of the month, Pte Simpson was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and later again in January 1918 with influenza, which saw him confined to hospital until early March of 1918. With health related issues impeding his start, Pte Simpson saw active service by mid March 1918. He was wounded in action on the 25th of April 1918, yet continued to serve on the Western Front.
On the 30th June 1918, Pte Gale Simpson was again wounded on the field when he received a gunshot wound to the left leg. He was invalided to England on the 1st of July and spent several months recovering in hospital before embarking on the ship Takada on the 24th December 1918 to return home to Australia as a result of his injuries. Gale Simpson finally received his medical discharge on the 8th July 1919.
An undated handwritten letter to the Central Army Records from a Mrs S Guidry of Carina in Brisbane QLD can be found in Gale Simpson’s service record. Her enquiry is on behalf of her mother, Gale Simpson’s widow, requesting service details so that she can make an application to the Repatriation Department for a War Widow’s Pension. Gale Simpson had passed away 5 years prior to the request. Research indicates that in 1919, Gale Simpson, on return from the war, married Maud Murray at the Chief Protector of Aborigines office in South Brisbane.