Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Tom Brooks served at Gallipoli from August 1915. He was hit by rifle fire in the head on 23 September 1915. Seriously wounded, Tom was evacuated to Malta and then England for treatment as the wound was causing blindness. He was eventually healed and returned to Egypt to serve in the Camel Corps and then went back to his original regiment, the 12th Light Horse. He served right through until July 1919, helping to quell the Egyptian Rebellion before he was returned to Australia.

He was one of five Cootamundra brothers who served in the AIF during WW1. Two of them were lost, Harold Spencer Brooks 2nd Battalion, killed in action at Bullecourt 9 April 1917 and Stanley Brooks 18th Battalion killed at the same place a month later.

He wrote a letter home from Gallipoli which was published in the Cootamundra Herald in 1915, under the heading, LETTER FROM TROOPER TOM BROOKS. In the Trenches, Turkey.

'Well, I am in the trenches at last. We landed last Sunday morning and we went into the firing line on Monday. We came all the way from Egypt to Gallipoli with-out a mishap, and the first thing that greeted us was bullets, but none of us got hit. However, the first lads landed I don't know, nobody has any idea what it is like without seeing it. Great high cliffs, and how they routed the Turks out of them! It is wonderful. The Turk is a good fighter and very game, and people don't know the problem that is before us yet, although we are doing very good work. More men are wanted. We have got miles and miles of trenches here. The first time I was under fire I tell you I got some frights, and now while I am writing this letter bullets are flying in all directions. Fighting goes on night and day. Just about dark the big guns start and such a row. Each gun has a different sound; the battleships boom boom as they shell the Turkish trenches. The shrapnel is the worst; we can hear them coming (whirr! the brute); that is the one that makes us run. I got hit the first night, it just grazed my little finger. Trench fighting is very monotonous; we do a lot of things that seem childish, but it breaks the monotony of things. If old Kaiser Bill had a fortnight in the trenches, he would soon want peace. We are just like rabbits and live in the ground, everybody from the O.C down; no tents or huts. A person is pretty safe in the trenches if he keeps his head down. I have not had a wash for a fortnight; we are on duty night and day; we take it in turns. I often sit and think about Cootamundra and all at once a bullet will go bang and lets me know where I am. I jump up and send him one in return. The firing gets on our nerves; we feel as if we could jump out of the trench and run over to him and smash him up with the butt of our rifle. The flies are something awful, especially having our meals (I can't tell you too much). The 12th Regiment has been split up into reinforcements; it is all reinforcements now. The Turks have got one gun hidden somewhere; it fires on to the beach every evening and we can't locate it; our guns fire in the direction they think it is, but they can't find it. We call it "Beachy Bill." I suppose you have heard about Vic Pinkstone and Tally McLeod being killed. Nearly all the Coota chaps are in hospital. Our position here is in the shape of a half moon — the furthermost point is about three miles. This country is not so barren as Egypt. We blew up a Turkish trench last night. We made a tunnel right through to it and then mined it. This is a beautiful harbour here. The hill that protects the Dardanelles is about five miles from where I am. The English are not far from it. It is not a very high hill, about 400 feet, but it is in an awkward place; it will take a bit of taking. Whirr ! the shrapnel is flying again. It is the only thing that makes me duck; I would sooner meet Mr. Bullet any day. It seems terrible all this killing; a person never thinks about it at the time until it is all over. In another fortnight the crisis will come so the officers say, or things might be just the same. I received No. 1 and 2 letters and I am anxiously waiting for more.'