SMITH, George Thomas
| Service Number: | 182 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 August 1914, Enlisted in Sydney. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Cheadle, Staffordshire, England, 23 August 1888 |
| Home Town: | Perth, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Tram Conductor |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 9 August 1918, aged 29 years |
| Cemetery: |
Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 182, 3rd Infantry Battalion, Enlisted in Sydney. | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 182, 3rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 182, 3rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney |
Help us honour George Thomas Smith's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
George Thomas SMITH, (Service Number 182) was born on 23rd August 1888 at Cheadle, Staffordshire, England. He had first worked as a tram conductor in Sydney from 2nd April 1914.
He was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces on 19th August 1914. He enlisted at Sydney on 22nd August and gave his father, William Smith of Swanmill, Lowden, Western Australia as his next of kin.
He was allotted to the 3rd Battalion. Smith embarked HMAT ‘Euripides’ at Sydney on 20th October 1914. He spent several months training in Egypt. He embarked ‘Derfflinger’ at Alexandria on 5th April 1915 to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. He took part in the Gallipoli landings. He was wounded in July and taken onboard the ‘Sweeper’ ‘Divahra’. He was conveyed to St Andrews Hospital on Malta where he stayed for about two months. He was then transported on the Hospital Ship ‘Hunslett’ to England and the 3rd West General Hospital in Cardiff where he was admitted on 17th October 1915.
It was not until August 1916, a year after his wound, that he was transferred to the No. 1 Convalescent Depot at Weymouth, and then No. 2 Convalescent Depot at Perham Downs. In September he proceeded from England to the Overseas Base at Etaples, France. From there he and proceeded to the front.
In March 1917 he was On Special Leave in the UK for two weeks. In September he was sick in hospital with exhaustion and transferred to the 5th Corps Rest Station. After ten days there he returned to his unit.
He was wounded in action and transferred to the 37th Casualty Clearing Station as ‘NYDN’ – not yet diagnosed neurosis – but was soon recognised as suffering from shell shock as he had been buried by a nearby bursting shell.
He passed through the New Zealand Stationary Hospital, the 13th General Hospital and then the 3rd Rest Camp by 1st November 1917. By 6th December he was deemed fit and re-joined the 3rd Battalion, though not in the front line until January 1918.
In late January and early February, he had leave in the UK and by this time he seems to have recovered well.
He was wounded in action with shrapnel to his head and right arm and died at the 7th Australian Field Ambulance Medical Dressing Station on 9th August 1918.
He was buried at the Lamotte en Santerre Communal Cemetery Extension, 4¾ miles SE of Corbie. In the rationalisation of cemeteries after the war the remains were exhumed and re-interred in the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery. (Australian Memorial Cemetery).
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.