24 Facts About Stan Sismey

Stanley George Sismey was an Australian cricketer.

Stan Sismey was not the on-field captain, an honour bestowed upon pre-war Test cricketer Lindsay Hassett.

Stan Sismey was the team's wicketkeeper and a middle order batsman during the five unofficial Test matches.

In 1942, Stan Sismey was seriously wounded when the flying boat of which he was the co-pilot was attacked by fighter aircraft of the Vichy French Air Force, over the Mediterranean Sea off Algeria.

Stan Sismey received multiple wounds in his back from shrapnel.

Stan Sismey took 88 catches, made 18 stumpings and was a right-handed batsman with a first-class batting average of 17.68 runs per innings.

Stan Sismey was born on 15 July 1916 in Junee, New South Wales.

In June 1945, while stationed in Scotland, Stan Sismey met and married Sergeant Elma McLachlan of Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire.

Stan Sismey was a banker by profession, and worked in Australia and Scotland.

Stan Sismey died at Taree on 19 June 2009 at the age of 92.

Stan Sismey entered club cricket as the wicketkeeper for Western Suburbs in the Sydney grade competition.

Stan Sismey was considered a contender to succeed Bert Oldfield as the wicketkeeper of the national team when the war intervened; there were no official international matches involving Australia between 1940 and 1946.

Stan Sismey played in the five Victory Tests of 1945, as well as two more unofficial tests in India, and other games in Ceylon and Australia.

On 21 November 1945, as a result of his war wounds, Stan Sismey underwent an operation at a hospital in Bombay to remove a metal fragment that was working its way out of his body.

Stan Sismey found his way barred, first by the brilliant Don Tallon and then by the stylish Ron Saggers.

Stan Sismey was honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia for "services to cricket", the Australian Sports Medal for his 20 years of voluntary service as a NSW selector, and life membership in Cricket NSW.

Stan Sismey joined the RAAF on 3 February 1941 and was assigned the service number 403605.

Stan Sismey received basic training as a pilot in Australia.

Stan Sismey embarked at Sydney on 13 June 1941 and arrived in Canada on 3 July; he received advanced training at No 7 Service Flying Training School, RCAF Station Fort Macleod, near Fort Macleod, Alberta.

The incident in which Stan Sismey was wounded occurred on 18 May 1942, when he was the co-pilot of a Consolidated Catalina flying boat flying over the Mediterranean, off Oran, French Algeria.

The Catalina crew spent eight hours in the sea, and Stan Sismey was unconscious by the time they were picked up by the British destroyer HMS Ithuriel.

Stan Sismey joked that "there was so much shrapnel in his back, that the compasses of the aircraft he flew were affected".

Stan Sismey did not return to operational flying duties for more than two years, when he was offered a posting to a RAF unit as a test pilot.

Stan Sismey was discharged from the RAAF on 24 July 1946.