Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

'GOOCH, Percy Ussher. Lieutenant, 25th Battalion (1918/19), 2nd L. H. (1914/18). Born at St. Lawrence, and educated at Mt. Morgan Boys' School. He is the son of Edward Barwon Gooch and Elizabeth Annie Gooch, of Mt. Morgan. Enlisted in Mt. Morgan August, 1914, as trooper in 2nd Light Horse. Sailed for Egypt per S.S. "Star of England" on 24th September, 1914, and arrived at Alexandria 6th December, 1914, and went to Heliopolis. Here he volunteered to go as infantry to Gallipoli, and left on 6th May, 1915, landing at Gaba Tepe 11th May, 1915. In action until 7th August, 1915, when he was wounded at Quinn's Post. Sent to hospital at Heliopolis, and finally sent home to Australia. Joined the Recruiting Staff, and was Enlisting Officer at Rockhampton until 1st May, 1916, when he went into camp again, and passed through the N.C.O. Schools and was picked for Duntroon. He passed as Second Lieutenant, and was sent back to Brisbane and appointed O.C. at various camps. Finally left Sydney on 2nd March, 1918, with Queensland draft of officers. In England he was appointed to the 25th Battalion, and left for France August,  1918, Was in action until 3rd October, 1918, when he was severely wounded in chest, and was in hospital in France for five months, then sent over to England to Endleigh Palace Hospital, London. Returned to Australia, August, 1919, and discharged.' from Queenslanders Who Fought in the Great War (nla.gov.au)

'AUSTRALIAN CASAULTIES.

Our Mount Morgan correspondent, writing last evening, says:-"Mr. E. Gooch, West street, has been advised that his son, Private Percy Ussher Gooch, of the Second Light Horse, has been wounded with a bomb in the thigh. The message added that he had been admitted to a hospital in Heliopolis on the 10th instant. Shortly after this telegram came to hand Mrs. Gooch received a cablegram from her son, stating that his injuries were not serious." from Morning Bulletin 19 Aug 1915 (nla.gov.au)

'AUSTRALIAN CASUALTIES.

Private P. U. Gooch, who enlisted at Mount Morgan towards the end of August, 1914, and was one of the last batch of Australian soldiers to be invalided home, arrived here by the mail train yesterday afternoon and went on to Mount Morgan. He left Queensland with the first contingent and landed in Gallipoli a fortnight after the first landing by Australian troops on the 25th of April last. He was thirteen weeks in the trenches and in that time participated in two charges. The first was after five or six weeks, when, as one of two parties of forty or fifty, he charged some Turks who were advancing along a gully between Walker's Ridge and Pope's Hill. The second charge was on the 7th of August at Quinn's Post, when he was wounded in the thigh. He was taken first to No. 1 General Hospital, Egypt, and in turn transferred to the No. 3 Auxiliary Hospital and the Convalescent Camp.' from Morning Bulletin 3 Dec 1915 (nla.gov.au)

'NEWS FROM THE FRONT.

Mr. E. Gooch, West-street, has been advised that his son, Lieutenant Percy Gooch, has been wounded in the chest. Lieutenant Gooch has been on active service since the outbreak of the war with the exception of a period spent in Australia recovering from the effects of a wound.' from Morning Bulletin 23 Oct 1918 (nla.gov.au)

'Longreach Items.

Mrs. T. F. Barker has received word that her nephew, Lieutenant Percy Gooch, has been seriously wounded by a shot through the chest penetrating the lung. Lieutenant Gooch was previously badly wounded on Gallipoli, but on recovering re-enlisted.' from The Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts 26 Oct 1918 (nla.gov.au)