Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas was the son of William John and Elizabeth Smith (née Crawford).  William was born in County Cork, Ireland, and migrated to Australia in the 1860s.  At the time of his death in December 1914, he had been a ‘colonist’ for 50 years, 40 of which had been spent in Wagga.  He was the proprietor of a brickyard in Wagga, was a veteran of the Maori War (1865).[1]  William and Elizabeth had two sons – Thomas William and James P. 

Thomas received his education at the Christian Brothers High School, and lived on Crampton Street. 

In addition to being a mature recruit, Thomas also had five years’ experience with the 16th Battalion Field Artillery, most likely a civilian militia.  Both factors may have had some bearing on his immediate promotion to Sergeant.[2]  Thomas embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT A40 ‘Ceramic’ on 22 December 1914.  Following training in Alexandria, he boarded the TSS ‘Franconia’ at Alexandria, bound for the Dardanelles (14 May 1915), where he was part of the historic landing at Gallipoli. 

On 9 November 1915, he was transferred to the Army Corps Ammunition Park, and a day later, was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant.  The Ammunition Park was a division of a Mechanical Transport Company.  These companies were part of the Lines of Communication, and were attached to a given Division[3]  and worked closely with it.  Those in the Lines of Communication operated in a wide variety of roles, such as being attached to the heavy artillery as Ammunition Columns or Parks, being Omnibus Companies, Motor Ambulance Convoys, or Bridging and Pontoon units.

The Daily Advertiser of 9 September 1915 carried a copy of the letter sent by Thomas to his mother in Crampton Street (dated 12 July 1915).  With the headline ‘A MODERN BATTLE: TURKS FIRST-CLASS FIGHTERS…’ it read:

It is summer time here and the days are very hot, but as we are near the sea the nights are cool.  Last week we made a considerable improvement to our position, killed a lot of Turks and took many prisoners.  All the prisoners seem to be glad to be taken.  They are a ragged lot, dressed in khaki with all sorts of head gear from the red fez to the brown skull cap, ragged elbow-length uniforms, and little short putties.  They are badly shod, too, and the rifles we have captured are very much worn and could not be very effective at a long range.  The Turks are frightened of our bayonet charges, and have cause to be so, for our lads have given them a taste of their qualities more than once, and will give it to them again in the near future.  Their losses have been very severe indeed – much greater than ours…

We see warfare in every aspect – naval guns are hammering away at the Turks every day, and at night time, when the attacks are all made, star shells illuminate the country and the artillery opens fire; beneath the Turkish trenches are men are sapping away to blow them up, while at intervals during the day aeroplanes go overhead and drop bombs on the trenches.  All this besides hand grenades and rifle fire.  A modern battle is a very terrible thing indeed.  But we are very happy here alongside the old Aegean Sea, wherein we swim every day.  Sometimes a shell comes over and then we scatter.

In the same letter (but written a week later, on 19 July), Thomas recounts the sinking of HMS ‘Triumph’.  The article finishes with a third letter penned by Thomas on 2 August, in which he complains ‘bitterly of the negligence of those responsible for the delivery of home mail to the troops in the trenches.’  He states that a large number of letters and papers are going astray, and that someone is guilty of the ‘greatest negligence’ which the ‘soldiers have to suffer’ for.

Thomas remained at Gallipoli until the evacuation.  On the evening of the evacuation (beginning?), he was wounded by a stray bullet while supervising the destruction of ammunition.[4]  His military papers show that he was admitted to the 1st Field Ambulance at Mudros, suffering from ‘Debility’ on 19 December 1915.  On 3 January 1916, he disembarked at Alexandria, and was transferred to the 4th Divisional Unit at Tel-el-Kebir the following month.  On 8 March, Thomas was posted to the 37th Battery, still stationed in Tel-el-Kebir.

In June 1916, he left Alexandria, bound for the Western Front, disembarking at Marseilles on 15 June.  Apparently Thomas won notoriety at the Front for manufacturing jam tin bombs. 

A year later, he was wounded in action in Belgium.  According to a letter written by his wife in 1967, he was ‘terribly wounded at Messines on 6 June 1917’ and was hospitalised in England[5] (Birmingham) until August 1918.[6]   He sustained a GSW to his left arm, which resulted in a compound fracture.[7]  This effectively ended his war career, and he was discharged on 18 September 1918, having been sent home to Australia ‘for change’ in January 1918.[8] 

In 1919, Thomas married Clara Emily Baker in Wagga.  Together, they had a son, Russell Thomas, and two daughters – names?

According to his wife’s letter written in 1967, he remained medically unfit on his return to Australia, and was hospitalised until 1921.

For many years after the war, Thomas ran a building business in Wagga. 

He died at his Hurstville home on 29 May 1954, from the effect of wounds he received during the war.  He was 76 years old.[9]

[1] William fought with the Imperial Forces, and for his services, was awarded a silver medal which he was always proud of (WWE, Tuesday 8 December 1914, page 3)
[2] Later reaching the rank of Sergeant-major
[3] In Thomas’s case, the First Division
[4] Letter written to the War Office by Clara Fleming, 1967
[5] 2nd Auxiliary Hospital, Southall (Enlistment papers)
[6] Letter written by Clara Fleming, 1967
[7] According to historian Sherry Morris, both his arms were shattered (Sherry Morris, index)
[8] According to his enlistment papers, he seems to have been hospitalised until at least December 1917 (not August 1918 as stated in his widow’s letter)
[9] DA, 2 June 1954