George Birkett joined the Royal Australian Airforce in 1939 when he was 16 years old. Birkett didn't like waiting to be called up for service and enlisted in the Australian Army at Caulfield in 1940, giving his birth date as 1920 and his mother Florence Farey as his next of kin. His step-father Edmund Farey enlisted later the same year and was killed in an accident in Australia in 1945. Birkett trained with the 4th Training Battalion. This Battalion formed the 2/23 Battalion and served in Dimra in Palestine, through to Tobruk. Birkett was discharged 13 March 1945. He tried several jobs then joined the Victorian police where he was a Senior Detective with the CIB for twenty-seven years.
