Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

HE GAVE IT ALL.

Born in the small rural town of Sale in 1884, Thomas Ewen Ross the eldest of 5 brothers and 1 sister,  like many others at this time would be destined to work the farm. His family settled in the small country town of Tarwin, some 175km south east of Melbourne and set up the family farm where he would be raised. 

Like many others in the area, when the call came for able bodied men to join the AIF, Thomas Ewen Ross was one of the first in line. Enlisting on the 16th September 1914 in Melbourne.

Thomas was now offically 122 Private Thomas Ewen Ross of the 14th Infantry Battalion, a Battalion that had only officially been formed since the first week of September 1914.  By December 1914 he would be embarking HMAT Ulysses bound for the Middle East and eventually, Gallipoli. 

As part of the 4th Brigade, the 14th Infatry Battalion of which Pte Ross was a member, along with the 13th, 15th and 16th Battalions would come ashore on the afteroon of the 25th April 1915, at a thin strip of land in Turkey called Gallipoli. He and his mates would have clung to that ground with every fibre of their being, by the afternoon of that opening day all those that were there knew, this was no walk in the park. Johnny Turk was serious. 

He would be at Gallipoli for less than a month before he found himself wounded by gunshot to the arm in May 1915. He was admitted to the Hospital Ship 'Galeka' the same day.  Later that month he was transfered to Alexandria, Egypt and then onto a Convalescent Camp at Mustapha in August 1915.

By September 1915 his time convalesing come to an end, he was reclassified medically fit and returned to his mates at Gallipoli. No doubt he was ready to get back in the fight, but with a little trepidation about what lay ahead. 

Ross had returned to 'ANZAC' just in time for the hostilities to conclude. While the logistics were put in place for the withdrawal on the 20 December 1915,  no further issues are noted and he served till the end of the Campaign, returning to Alexandria on New Years day 1916, quite possibly relieved he made it through the stunt alive.

Private Ross was then promoted to Lance Corporal at Tel El Kebir on the 18 March 1916. 

Lance Corporal Ross and the 14th Inf Bn then embarked for France to join the British Expeditionary Force on the 1 June 1916. He disembarked at the busy port of Marselles on the 8 June 1916.

Once again less than a month later Lance Corporal Ross was Wounded In Action, by a bomb fragment to the right knee. He would find himself recouperating until 16th October 1916 upon which time he finally rejoined his unit in France. 

The winter of 1916 would be one of the coldest in recent time, unfortunatly Lance Coporal Ross would end up in hospital again, this time with a case of Septic Feet. He would be out of action for a couple of weeks while his feet thawed from the winter freeze.

26 December 1916 he would be promoted to Temporary Corporal and then by 18 February 1917 he was made a permanent Corporal. 

The 11 April 1917 would change the course of the remainder of war for Corporal Ross. The 14th Inf Bn, of the 4th Australian Division took part in the hastily planned and poorly executed First Battle of Bullecourt. Ross would find himself Wounded In Action for a 3rd time, but this time, along with 1170 others he was taken prisoner of war as well.

Initiially he was reported as Killed In Action. No doubt this would have caused quite the concern at home considering his younger brother Roy Leigh Ross had been killed the previous year at the Battle of Fromelles. Thankfully though word was received he would be sitting out the war in Germany as a POW. 

Corporal Ross was among a group repatriated back to England on Boxing Day 1918. He then let his hair down in England a little too much and was reprimanded and forfeited 2 days pay for being AWOL in March 1919. 

The war was now over for Corporal Ross and he would board his freedom ship HT 'Port Napier' on the 12 May 1919 and disembark for a final time in Melbourne on the 2 July 1919.

Thomas Ross returned to civilian life on 18 July 1919 with his discharge from the AIF being officially recognised. Unfortunalty the story doesnt end there. Thomas returned to his Farm, he got married to Hazel Mitchel Roberts in 1928, it appears they had a child, he was moving on with his life, then his luck ran out. 

On the 21 October Thomas Ewen Ross, a 3 time wounded ANZAC, a survivor of the German POW camps and by all accounts, "a favourite with all' was tragically murdered by what is described as a 'demented farm hand'. After killing Thomas the farm hand then shot and killed himself in a tragic cycle of violence. It can only be imagined Thomas Ross was hoping he had escaped such horrors, unfortunalty it finally caught up with him.   

From the 'Great Southern Star' (Gippsland)

He was very modest about the soldiering part of his life, but he had had a hard time, especially at Gallipoli, for his weight dropped to about nine stone, and he usually turned to scale at about 13 stone. He was a general favourite with all; very even temprered, and always had a smile. He was never known to grumble, and his untimely end came as a great shock to his many friends, and cast a gloom over the whole district. He was a lover of home life, going out very little. He was a model husband and father, whose brief married life was extremely happy.' ['Reveille', 29 November 1930]

Lest We Forget