Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas’ first posting was to support the Expeditionary Force that was focussed on capturing the Gallipoli Peninsula. While fighting escalated on the Western Front, for the thousands of troops at Mena Camp Cairo the months of training and waiting became frustrating.

On 19 December, Thomas had arranged to have a leave-of-absence to visit the famous Wassah bazaar. While there, Thomas may have been assaulted by a group of “natives”, and withdraw his pistol and was waving at a crowd before being taken into custody by the Military Police. He spend the night in a lock-up.missing his anticipated return to camp. Thomas was marched back into camp the next afternoon

He was charged with
a) being absent without leave.
b) drunkenness, and
c) brandishing a firearm in a public place, and on 29 December 1914 found himself the focus of a Regimental Court Martial hearing the three separate charges in Mena Camp, Cairo, Egypt.

Thomas pleaded guilty to the first and third charges only. He maintained he was unaware of the regulation prohibiting the carrying of private weapons in the city. The alleged drunkenness could have been the effects of being assaulted, or maybe Thomas had obtained some alcohol. Ten days detention saw him miss New Year celebrations

With the Gallipoli assault commencing on 25 April 1915, Thomas would have been amongst those landed on the Peninsula.

A request from Thomas’ adopted sister Daisy Egan on 29 July 1915 (59 Ross St. Richmond), sought information about whether Thomas was on a list of injured soldiers. That letter detailed how Thomas’ nominated next-of-kin Daisy’s mother (Mrs Walker 94 Argyll St Fitzroy) was no longer alive. There is no record of Thomas being wounded at that time.

However before the successful withdrawal from the Gallipoli Peninsula in January 1916, Thomas had been admitted to No.1 Auxiliary Hospital in Cairo in October 1915, with a fever, and apparently recovered.

Interestingly, in response to an enquiry on 28 Sept 1916 about a newspaper listing of an injured Thomas Egan, this hospitalisation was officially reported to a Miss M Feeney (c/- Farmers Hotel Kyneton) - who would later become his wife. He was transferred to light duties.

By mid 1917, Thomas Egan had been transferred to the Western Front, where his suffered gunshot wounds to the head and right leg (20 July 1917). You can only imagine that to be shot in such different parts of your body, you must have been exposed in very hostile territory where multiple shots could be inflicted.

He was evacuated firstly to Bolougne Hospital before crossing the English Channel aboard the Hospital Ship RMHS St David and admitted to 3rd London Hospital at Wandsworth in England on 31 July 1917 and three months later transferred to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital before being discharged 4 days later. He was sent to Codford. Codford became a depot in 1916 for the men who had been evacuated from the front line and were not fit to return to the front. However by the end of Jan 1918, Thomas was back in France, promoted to Acting Bombardier in May then Temporary Bombardier in August that year.

Codford's 'Anzac Badge' was the idea of an Australian Brigade Commander during World War I, who wished to leave a visible memento of his brigade when it departed. This consists of a gigantic Rising Sun badge (measuring 53 x 45 metres), carved in 1916 into the grass of a hillside to expose the underlying bright white chalk

Thomas Egan was granted Special Leave to return to Australia aboard the steam ship S.S. Port Lyttleton. Special Leave was granted for those who had enlisted at the start of the war in 1914. Thomas left Southampton on 23 Oct 1918, and would have been at sea when the Armistice was declared on 11 November 1918. Hopefully, by the time the S.S. Port Lyttleton rounded Cape Horn, all aboard would have received the news of the end of the Great War.

Thomas Egan arrived back in Melbourne on Christmas Day 1918. He subsequently received the standard World War 1 medals:
* Victory Medal
* 1914-15 Star
* British War Medal

Thomas Egan married Mary Fenney and settled to raise a family at 4 Junction Road Preston. Together they had one son Robert William, and daughters Olive and Dorothy Evelyn.

Thomas Egan was quick to answer the call to protect the “Mother Country” during the Great War.

Leaving his trade as a Bootmaker, he enlisted for active service on 19 Sept 1914, a mere six weeks after the declaration of war (1 Aug 1914) following the assassination on June 28, 1914, of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne.

Thomas was a bit of a lad, at only 20 years and six months. He had already received a fine for creating a nuisance prior to enlisting, and his larrikin personality followed him to war.

He departed for Europe on 21 Oct 1914 with the 6th Battalion, 2nd Brigade Ammunition Column. A stop-over in Cairo quickly saw Thomas back in trouble.

A bit of a lark during Christmas festivities while stationed in Cairo saw Thomas face a court-martial at Mona, Cairo on 29 Dec 1914 for trivial matters such as:

• Absent without leave (pleaded guilty and found guilty)
• Drunkedness in Wassah Bazaar (pleaded not-guilty, but still found guilty)

and the slightly more serious charge of:
• Possession of firearm in city (pleaded guilty and found guilty)

His sentence (of 10 days detention) seemed rather severe for such a fun and booze-loving fellow who was only looking after his own safety in a foreign city.

Within a year, he was suffering from “fever”, requiring hospitalisation in Cairo (15 Oct 1915), before being transferred to England (May 1916) for specialised training (at the School of Instruction) and his subsequent classification as a Gunner.

He was wounded at Boulogne (France) on 26 Jul 1917, receiving gunshot wounds to the head and the right leg. Suffering severe pain, he was eventually evacuated to England five days later, and admitted to 3rd London General Hospital Wandsworth for surgery and recovery.

Once recovered, Thomas re-joined his unit in France on 6 Feb 1918, completing his service as a Lance Corporal Bombadier (from 10 Aug 1918).

He started back to Australia for “Special Leave” on 23 Oct 1918 aboard “Port Lyttleton”, disembarking on Christmas Day 1918; and subsequently being discharged from duty on 23 Feb 1919.