George James Odgers was an Australian soldier, journalist and military historian.
13 Facts About George Odgers
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George Odgers was born in Perth, Western Australia, on 29 March 1916.
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George Odgers was the youngest of eight children and the first of his parents' children to be born in a hospital.
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The family struggled financially through the Great Depression, but George Odgers was able to attend Perth Boys High School and later worked his way through the University of Western Australia and University of Melbourne where he completed a master of arts.
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George Odgers left the newspaper to enlist in the Royal Australian Air Force later that year.
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George Odgers' first book was a history of No 77 Squadron RAAF in the Korean War entitled Across the Parallel, which was published in 1952.
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George Odgers worked as a defence journalist in parallel with his career as a military historian.
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George Odgers moved to The Age in 1960 as a special writer focusing on defence issues.
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George Odgers married Elizabeth Garrod in 1954 and the couple had two children.
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In 1965 George Odgers became the head of public relations for the Department of Air and subsequently the RAAF.
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George Odgers held this position until 1975 when he became Director of Historical Studies and Information in the Department of Defence.
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George Odgers retired from the Department of Defence in 1981 but continued working as a historian.
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George Odgers published illustrated histories of the Royal Australian Navy, Air Force and Army in 1982,1984 and 1988 respectively.