THOMPSON, Bernard Rudd
| Service Number: | 25552 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 3 January 1916, Casula, NSW |
| Last Rank: | Gunner |
| Last Unit: | 5th Field Artillery Brigade |
| Born: | Newtown, New South Wales, Australia, 22 February 1892 |
| Home Town: | Newtown (NSW), Inner West, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Camdenville Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Tram Conductor |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 18 May 1917, aged 25 years |
| Cemetery: |
Vraucourt Copse Cemetery, Vaulx-Vraucourt Plot II, Row A, Grave 15 Headstone Inscription "BROTHERS UNITED WITH CHRIST WHICH IS FAR BETTER" |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Tempe Tram Depot War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 3 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Gunner, 25552, Reinforcements WW1, Casula, NSW | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jul 1916: | Involvement Gunner, 25552, 5th Field Artillery Brigade , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '4' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Orsova embarkation_ship_number: A67 public_note: '' | |
| 29 Jul 1916: | Embarked Gunner, 25552, 5th Field Artillery Brigade , HMAT Orsova, Sydney | |
| 22 Apr 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Gunner, 5th Field Artillery Brigade , Transferred from the 5th Reinforcements to the 7th Field Artillery Brigade to the 105th Battery of the 5th Military Brigade. |
Help us honour Bernard Rudd Thompson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Daryl Jones
Son of Richard Rudd and Elizabeth THOMPSON, of 566 King Street, Newtown, New South Wales.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Bernard Rudd THOMPSON (Service Number 25552) was born on 22nd February 1892 at Newtown. He began working for the NSW Tramways as a casual conductor on electric trams on 12th February 1914.
He enlisted at Casula on 20th January 1916 and gave as his next of kin his father, Richard Thompson who apparently operated as a blacksmith at 566 King Street, Newtown. He was allotted to the 5th Reinforcements to the 7th Field Artillery Brigade. Thompson embarked HMAT ‘Orsova’ at Sydney on 29th July 1916 and reached Plymouth (England) on 14th September. He marched out to the Australian Army Training Depot at Swanage. From there he proceeded overseas to France on SS ‘Victoria’ on 10th February 1917. He was taken on strength of the 2nd Division Artillery Column on 3rd March and was transferred to the 105th Battery of the 5th Field Artillery Brigade on 22 April 1917.
Less than a month later he was killed in action on 18th May 1917. At first, he was buried in the Vaulx Australian Dressing Station Cemetery. In 1928 it became ‘necessary for imperative reasons to remove all British war graves’ from that place and so they were moved to Vraucourt Copse Cemetery, Bullecourt, France. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission history of Vraucourt Copse suggests that Vaulx ADS Cemetery was on low and swampy ground. There were many exhumations of isolated graves and fragmented cemeteries after the war but Vaulx ADS was a fully established cemetery with standard headstones, so its relocation was unusual. Vaulx also contained German graves, but only the British remains were moved to Vraucourt Copse.
Bernard Thompson had two brothers who served in the Great War. Private Richard Thompson, 38th Australian Infantry Battalion (Service Number 2410) died in France on 29th May 1917, aged 28. He has no grave, and is remembered on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. Private Reginald Philip Thompson 4th Battalion (Service Number 3306) died in France on 19th August 1916, aged 20. He has no grave and is remembered on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
Richard and Reginald have no more than their name on the Memorial. Bernard Rudd has a headstone, and it has the mandatory less-than-66-character inscription from his family.
‘BROTHERS UNITED WITH CHRIST WHICH IS FAR BETTER’
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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