Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

SAXON Thomas Abraham 485 SGT
21st Battalion
1887-1963

Four sons of John Thomas Saxon and his wife Isabella (Garrett) Saxon served in WW1; Will, Joe, Tom and Bertie. They owned and worked a printing business in Euroa, also a branch in Violet Town run by Tom and Bertie, called the Violet Town Sentinel. While they served overseas all the boys wrote letters home, to which their mother replied. These letters were printed in the paper and kept the two towns in touch with what went on at the front in spite of the censor’s snipping.  They maintained a light-hearted approach, at times almost like a Sunday school picnic. The letters were published in the Euroa Advertiser – ‘Tiser’ as it was called – and the Violet Town Sentinel and the boys were generous with news of other soldiers from the Euroa district.

When Tom enlisted in April 1915 Will had already joined up and was serving as a stretcher bearer at Krithia on the Turkish Peninsula. Another brother, Joe joined up six days after Tom.  Tom did some initial training at Broadmeadows and Seymour; there was a farewell reported in the Violet Town Sentinel and information to the effect that ‘Mr Ford had undertaken to edit the Sentinel, the mechanical department remaining in the hands of Bert Saxon.’ So all was in good hands as the staff of the printing business went off to defend the country.’

When Tom’s  ship, HMAT Ulysses was taking the troops on board for embarkation from Melbourne  the boys’ mother, Isabella and one of her small daughters were on the dock to farewell him, but sadly they never made contact; a big disappointment for both of them. Nevertheless, Tom’s letters remain cheerful, luckily not suffering from sea sickness like many of his mates.

Throughout his sea voyage and eventual landing in Egypt Tom’s letters remain like interesting travelogues. Descriptions of Cairo about which he was far from impressed -  dirty, smelly and unattractive,  with natives begging and overcharging - must have made entertaining reading back home. Isabella wrote letters to her sons interspersed with poems that she composed. She was terribly depressed and anxious about her four sons at the Front, but there is no evidence of this in the letters she wrote. Tom also wrote poetry, an especially poignant poem in memory of an old mate who died while on active service in Egypt, 1915. Tom maintained an interest in anything he stumbled across; once he saw some petrified wood indicating an ancient forest. He was always on the lookout for something different to investigate.   

On 29 June 1915 Tom embarked for Gallipoli. Even though he was torpedoed on the way he still recorded the event in a matter-of-fact manner. To quote his letter home ‘he assisted to lower the boats until nearly the last when he was knocked on the head by a swinging rope and incapacitated.’

In March 1916, three months after the evacuation from Gallipoli Tom’s Battalion boarded the Ascanius for Marseilles. In April his was the first Australian Battalion to commence active operations on the Western Front. In November of the same year Tom reported sick with bronchitis and pharyngitis; he remained in hospital for well over a month and was back with his unit at the end of December. In February 1917 he was promoted to the rank of CPL and then acting SGT.  It was during the battle at Bapaume in March 1917 that Tom received gunshot wounds to his thighs and abdomen.  For this he was evacuated to the general hospital at Wandsworth, then to Harefield and finally to convalesce at Weymouth.

From there he was sent back to Australia to be discharged on 17 August 1918. On 17 December 1919 Tom married Evelyn Raitt; they were to have seven children.

Tom returned to the Violet Town Sentinel on 26 November. The following March he and his brother William purchased the Euroa Advertiser and amalgamated the two newspapers. The Sentinel was printed by the Euroa Advertiser as there was no printing press in Violet Town. This arrangement encouraged the two newspapers to work together and maintain a good working relationship. When of age Tom’s sons Tim and Rod continued running the business until it was sold to the Euroa Gazette in 1957.

Tom was instrumental in forming the Euroa RSL in October 1918.  Captain Alfred Tubb was elected the first President, Vice Presidents were Will Saxon and A Morgan, and Tom took on the job of secretary.  He was awarded a life membership.

In 1963 when he was 76 years old Tom died; his wife Amy died in Euroa in 1984. They are both buried in the Euroa cemetery.

Service Medals:      1914-15 Star     British War Medal    Victory Medal
                                  The ANZAC Commemorative Medallion and Badge

Memorials: Euroa State School
                    Euroa Advertiser Honour Board
                    St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Euroa
                    Euroa Town Band Honour Roll
                    ANA Violet Town Honour Board
                    Copper Plaque erected on exterior wall, Memorial Hall, Violet Town

Tree no 43 was planted in 1917 by J Hallawell

In 2013  a Ceratonia siliqua – Carob Tree – was planted by Stuart Saxon

© 2016 Sheila Burnell