Son of John William Oakley Sandell and Maud Alice Sandell.

Eric Sandell was a student at Carey from February 1926 to December 1934, when he obtained his Leaving Certificate. 

He was a member of the First XVIII and was a patrol leader in the Scout Troop.

On leaving Carey, he joined the Bank of New South Wales and was stationed chiefly at the Geelong branch. He enlisted in the 2/9th Field Ambulance in May, 1940, and left for Malaya in January, 1941. After the fall of Singapore, he served as an orderly in Changi Hospital, until, in April 1943, he was selected for medical duties with the ill-fated force of 7000 British and Australian prisoners of war who were sent to Siam (now Thailand) to build the infamous railway. There he suffered badlyfrom dysentery and was later transferred to a hospital camp at Tanbaya, in Burma (now Myanmar), where he continued to work as a nursing orderly until he contracted a severe and rare tropical complaint, known as Weil's disease. He did not recover.

A letter from the commanding officer of the hospital at which he died, on 26 November 1943, pays tribute to his work for his patients and to his uncomplaining endurance throughout his illness. He is buried at the Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Myanmar.

Eric Sandell was 25 years old.