BLACKMAN, Walter John Thomas
| Service Number: | 50 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 August 1914, Cadets 1912-1914 - instructor |
| Last Rank: | Second Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 55th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Miners Rest, Victoria, Australia, January 1888 |
| Home Town: | Ballarat, Central Highlands, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Teacher |
| Died: | Cardiac Infarction, Bundaroo, Victoria, Australia, 28 November 1967 |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Bendigo Great War Roll of Honor |
Biography contributed by Evan Evans
From Vivian Bugden, The Photographs of WW1
See photo: Such a forlorn photo.
Feb 1917 - Walter John Thomas aka Tom Blackman standing at his brother, Leslie Crompton Blackman’s grave on the French/Belgium border. Leslie was killed in action in 1916. Tom was wounded and suffered shell shock and was hospitalised in Britain. He returned to the Western Front.
Tom returned to Australia in 1919 his papers stamped “mentally insane”. Tom’s family fought for many years to have those words removed from his file, they won that battle!
Tom spent the rest of his life in a repatriation hospital in Victoria, he died in 1967.
Tom and Leslie and their cousins, the Neely brothers - Jack (kia Lone Pine 1915) and his brother James (kia France 1916) - were my great grandfather Leonard Blackman’s nephews.
May they Rest In Peace
Click images to start slideshow.