Thomas Herbert WRAGG

WRAGG, Thomas Herbert

Service Number: 3706
Enlisted: 11 September 1915
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 26th Infantry Battalion
Born: Somerset, Tasmania, Australia, 6 November 1888
Home Town: Longford, Northern Midlands, Tasmania
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Killed in Action, France,, 3 May 1917, aged 28 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Burnie War Memorial, Longford War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France)
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World War 1 Service

11 Sep 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3706, 26th Infantry Battalion
5 Jan 1916: Involvement Private, 3706, 26th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: ''
5 Jan 1916: Embarked Private, 3706, 26th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Afric, Melbourne
5 Aug 1916: Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 3706, 26th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , GSW Arm
3 May 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3706, 26th Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (Second), KIA - body not recovered

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Biography contributed by Evan Evans

AWM Biography

Thomas Herbert Wragg was born at Emu Bay, Tasmania on 6 November 1888, to parents Herbert Harnett and Annie Rebecca Wragg (nee Paice). He was educated at the State School in Somerset, Tasmania and worked as a labourer before the First World War. He married Leah Marion Powell in 1915, and they later had a daughter Rita Amy Rose.
Wragg enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 11 September 1915 and was assigned to the 26th Battalion. He departed Melbourne aboard HMAT Afric on 5 January 1916. After training in Egypt, Wragg joined his unit in France in early August 1916. He was wounded in action near Pozieres on 9 August 1916. His mother thought he had been killed in action, so he reassured her that was not the case in a postcard message.

Wragg re-joined his unit in early September 1916 and was still with the unit in October when the battalion was again engaged in the Somme Valley. In late October, Wragg had been admitted to the field hospital for myalgia and again in early November for rheumatism. He was sent to the segregation camp in Etaples, before re-joining the battalion in February 1917. During May 1917, he was with the 26th battalion during their attempt to breach the German defences around Bullecourt. It was during this fighting that Thomas Herbert Wragg was killed in action on 3 May 1917 and is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11013441

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