Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas was the son of a prominent Queensland Senator, Mayor of Mackay and newspaper editor. He was born in Mackay in 1891, and joined the 15th Battalion AIF in 1914 while it was transiting Melbourne so as to combine its 3 Queensland Companies with its Tasmanian Company. After training in Egypt, Thomas landed on Gallipoli in the late afternoon of 25 April, 1915. He was immediately dispatched to the worst position on the peninsula, Quinn's Post at the top of Monash Valley. He was shot through the throat on May 10, repatriated back to Alexandria and then England. He rejoined the 15th Battalion after training as a Lewis Gunner, and saw action at Pozieres, Stormy Trench, and the horror of Bullecourt. in late 1917 he saw action at Messines and Polygon Wood, having been promoted to corporal. He was then sent for officer training, becoming a subaltern and then quickly a full Lieutenant in 1918. He missed Hamel, but led his platoon through the Battle of Amiens, then Jeancourt, Lihu Farm and the Hindenburg Outpost Line. On "Gallipoli Leave", he married his fiancé Francis Campbell-Walker, then working in England. He came back to Australia to be an orchardist in the country, as his lungs had been badly affected by gas. At the end of his life he saw some service in WW2. His background in journalism saw him become the 15th Battalion's Official Historian, and his History came out finally in 1948. He also wrote a fine set of memoirs, "Death Rides Abroad".