GREEN, Thomas Bennett
| Service Number: | 1924 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 29 November 1915, Dubbo, New South Wales |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 54th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Murtoa, Victoria, Australia, 2 December 1880 |
| Home Town: | Gulargambone, Coonamble, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Blacksmith |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 15 May 1917, aged 36 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Coonamble Municipality and Wingadee Shire HR, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 29 Nov 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Dubbo, New South Wales | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Jun 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1924, 54th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Barambah embarkation_ship_number: A37 public_note: '' | |
| 23 Jun 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 1924, 54th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Barambah, Sydney |
Help us honour Thomas Bennett Green's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography
Tom was born in Murtoa on Lake Marma, a wheat district of North-Western Victoria, his name was registered as Thomas Bennet Green (N.B. only one T in Bennet but he enlisted using Bennett), he was named after his maternal Grandmother's brother, Bennet Thomas Baker and was the youngest of eleven children, Tom was only 2 years old when his Father passed away in Ararat, Victoria, his parents were farmers & shortly after his Father's death his Mother purchased land at Glenthompson, Victoria & built a homestead "Wildwood". In the early 1890's, with the lure of "gold", the extended family moved to the Central West of New South Wales finally settling in Carinda in the Walgett, Coonamble, Gularambone area where they built another homestead, the 2nd "Wildwood". It was here that Tom learnt his skills of blacksmithing & ran his business from "Wildwood". Tom never married and in November, 1915 he rode to Dubbo to enlist "to keep an eye of the lads" (his young nephews who had already signed up), he was just days short of his 35th birthday but as fit as a mallee bull due to the physical demands of farm work. "Wildwood" (2) accommodated the extended Green family well, as another sibling married the boys would band together & build another home upon it for the newlyweds.
A month after Tom was killed in action the younger of his 2 surviving brothers, George wrote to the Army asking which Battle & by what means (shot or shell) he was killed, 2 years short of the 100th anniversary of Tom's death these questions are still unanswered, maybe there is no way for his family of ever knowing but maybe with events happening in the old battlefields of Europe it may be revealed, maybe the recently found tunnels under the Somme might hold some answers, I'd love this to happen in my lifetime.
Five months after Tom died one of "the lads" he was trying to keep an eye on (Sid Hartwell) was killed on the Menin Road in Belgium. I can only imagine how my Grandmother must have felt losing her youngest uncle & eldest brother within a 5 month period.
There is no known grave for Tom, his name appears on the Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux and also in the AWM, Canberra.
Click images to start slideshow.