THOMSON, Arthur Charles
| Service Number: | 314 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 August 1914, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Last Rank: | Second Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 9th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Clermont, Queensland, 11 November 1889 |
| Home Town: | Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Cabinetmaker |
| Died: | Coronary Thrombosis due to arteriosclerosis & atheroma, Brisbane, Queensland, 7 June 1949, aged 59 years |
| Cemetery: |
Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens & Crematorium, Queensland Cremated |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 314, Brisbane, Queensland | |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Sep 1914: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 314, 9th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Omrah embarkation_ship_number: A5 public_note: '' | |
| 24 Sep 1914: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 314, 9th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Omrah, Brisbane | |
| 25 Mar 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 314, 9th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 6 Aug 1915: | Wounded Private, 314, 9th Infantry Battalion, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli, GSW (left thigh) | |
| 7 Mar 1918: | Wounded Private, 314, 9th Infantry Battalion, 2nd occasion - Gas | |
| 23 Apr 1920: | Discharged AIF WW1, Second Corporal, 314, 9th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Karen Robinson-Foote
After his father died when he was about 7, his mother owned and managed a large boarding property in Sherwood, Brisbane. Arthur later apprenticed as a Cabinet maker.
At the onset of WW1 Arthur enlisted 22 August 1914 with the 9th Infantry Battalion, AIF. Arthur and his mother had moved to Townsville from Brisbane earlier that year, when his brother obtained a position at the new Townsville Stock Experimental Station.
Arthur served with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Gallipoli), in Egypt and France. He was seriously wounded twice, as well as hospitalisations for the common soldiers ailments - scabies, influenza, dysentery, haemorrhoids etc. He suffered a shrapnel wound to his thigh at Anzac in 1915 and in 1918 he was gassed in France.
He was hospitalised at Boulogne then transferred to Eastbourne in England, spending the rest of the war, and most of the following year in several military hospitals. He did not return to his unit and was put on light duties.
Arthur C Thomson, Second Corporal, was RTA on the Lucie Woermann from England 5 December 1919 and discharged 23 April 1920. He returned to Brisbane and his work as a cabinet maker residing with his mother & brother.
Arthur married Ethel Mary Kerr in 1928. From 1929 he struggled with his health and ability to work. Ethel supported them both with her job. Arthur applied for a war pension seeking recognition of his debilitating ailments – including anxiety neurosis and pulmonary fibrosis – for years, as being caused by his war service but was always denied.
Arthur died at home on 7 June 1949. The Commission contributed £20 toward funeral costs. Ethel continued to appeal the case and in early 1950 the Entitlement Tribunal attributed Arthur’s death to his war service.
Biography
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