Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas Walter Ford was a medical student at the University of Queensland when war broke out in August 1914.  He enlisted on August 20th, 1914.  Being under 21, he needed consent from his parents.  There is no evidence that this was given on his file.  Interestingly, he names not his father or mother as next of kin (NOK) but rather his elder brother, Sydney Kelso Ford.

He had undertaken cadet training as part of the universal training scheme, having completed one year and three months training with the Oxley Regiment.
Thomas Walter embarked on September 24th, 1914, as part of C Company of the 9th Battalion. Travelling with him were fellow soldiers 310 Charles Sussex, 320 Arthur Marshall and 381 George Phipps.  These men will play a pivotal role in the story of Thomas Ford.

The 9th Bn was the first battalion recruited in Queensland, and with the 10th, 11th and 12th Battalions, it formed the 3rd Brigade. The 3rd Brigade was the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915, and so was the first ashore at around 4.30 am. The battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC beachhead. 

With him on the day of the landing was Charles Sussex, Sussex is described as a big quiet man who was well-liked he was a man in his 30s and had experience, as he had served in the permanent artillery force in Queensland.  Witnesses confirmed that they saw them together on the morning of the landing.  Alfred Mee also of the 9th Bn, stated that he had seen Thomas about an hour and a half after the landing, a mile or two from the beach. He was laying wounded and another soldier was attending to him.  As the Battalion was forced to retire, he was left behind.  Mee conceded that the chances of him getting back to the beach in his condition were very slight.

Syd as his NOK, received word in early May that his brother was reported wounded and missing. No doubt he had the unenviable task of informing his parents of the fate of their youngest son.

Desperate for news of his son, he places an advertisement in the Brisbane Courier, hoping to gain some information on his son’s fate from returning soldiers.  Similarly, the Australian Branch of the Australian Red Cross on January 29th, 1916, also published requests for information concerning the fate of Thomas and three other members of the 9th Bn.

It would not be until a court of inquiry was convened in Egypt on June 5, 1916, that the fate of those wounded and missing would be declared changed to Killed In Action.

With word of Thomas being posted as missing and wounded in May 1915.  Syd enlists on June 14, 1915.  The reasons for his enlistment are unknown, but was he on a mission to find his younger brother?

Syd had six months of previous military experience with the cadets of Brisbane Grammar School.  Once enlisted, he was sent to No. 12 Officer Training School at Enoggera, where he obtained his commission on November 11, 1915.

On January 22, 1916, he departed Australia bound for Alexandria in Egypt. Arriving on March 19, 1916.  He would spend less than a week before embarking for France.  This would be his first real opportunity to try and find out what had happened to Thomas and where he might be, given that he was still posted as missing and wounded.

Syd proceeded to France, where he undertook further training before being marched out to the 9th Bn on May 25, 1916.  Just two months later, on July 23, 1916, he would enter into his first major battle at Pozieres.  The first four lines of Australians took the first line of German trenches in the early hours of the morning with apparent ease.  They were waiting for the second of the artillery barrages to lift before taking the next line of trenches.  Witnesses reported that some of the Australians were too anxious and rushed into their own fire this included Syd.

Fellow officer and friend Chares Wittkopp recounted what occurred next in a letter to Arthur Collin, also of the 9th Bn from the 2nd London General Hospital.  This letter will form part of the court of inquiry evidence into Syd’s fate.  Charles had been hit by shrapnel, fracturing his leg.  He managed to roll into a large shell hole where he lay for some time in great pain.

"I was aware that I was being spoken to by Syd Ford. He helped me along a short way, and then rested, on account of my fatigue, in a small shell hole.  The Huns by this time were putting the shells in a treat. As a matter of fact I expected to be blown to atoms any moment. [Syd] was asking me where I was hit, and as best I could I was explaining, when I felt him, as it were, stretch himself.  We were lying close together and I kept talking about the boys’ chances on the second line, when it suddenly dawned upon me that Syd was very quiet, and lo and behold, after shaking him and partly turning him over, I came to the conclusion, that he was dead. His death must have been instantaneous for he never even groaned."

For Syd’s father he had just been informed in June 1916 that his younger son Thomas was pronounced killed in action at Gallipoli.  Now Syd himself was posted as missing.  However, the informal communications between parents and soldiers were much better.  Thomas Snr received a copy for the letter that Wittkopp wrote to Arthur Collin via Collin’s parents in December 1916.

Syd’s fate would not be officially declared by the Army until February 16, 1917. When he was declared Killed In Action.  Like Thomas, Syd’s body was not recovered.  It is thought in the case of Syd that his body was covered by further artillery shelling.
 
References
Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51449
National Library of Australiahttps://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/20079234?searchTerm=%22Thomas%20Ford%22
National Archives of Australia War Dossier of Thomas Walter Ford
National Archives of Australia War Dossier of Sydney Kelso Ford

Son of Thomas Sydney Herbert Foord and Emma Mary Ford of 'Jesma' 50 Gladstone Road, South Brisbane, QLD. Brother of Sydney Kelso Ford who was killed in action on 23 July 1916 while serving with the 9th Battalion and no known grave. Name appears on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal