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Thomas was the son of Alfred BENSON & Nellie Elizabeth ROBERTS and was born on the 14th of July 1883 in Tea Tree Gully, SA.

His parents were married on the 23rd of August 1882 in the Congregational Church, North Adelaide, SA.

His father was the son of Alfred BENSON and was born in 1856 in Sweden.
His mother was the daughter of Charles Loyld ROBERTS & Ellen CUSHION and was born in 1859 in Clare, SA.

Thomas was the eldest child born into this family of 8 children.

His father was a labourer and they first lived in Hermitage and then moved to Pulsford Road, Prospect.

Thomas was 2 ½ years old when his first sibling was born in 1886 and then 2 more brothers were born before September 1889, but sadly they all died in infancy before 1890 and were buried in the West Terrace Cemetery.

It wasn’t until he was nearly 8 years old that his next sibling was born in 1891 and by now they were living in Walkerville.

Thomas gained 3 more siblings by 1901 and they had moved to George Street, Thebarton and then in 1901 they moved to Second Street, Bowden.

After finishing school Thomas gained employment as a Painter.

His father then died on the 14th of October 1905 and they buried him in the West Terrace Cemetery.

Thomas married Phyllis Mahilia RONEY on the 26th of September 1910 in the Church of Transfiguration, Gawler South, SA.
Phyllis was the daughter of Albert RONEY & Margaret NOBLE and was born on the 13th of November 1891 in North Adelaide, SA.

They made their first home in Hindmarsh and welcomed Marie Margaret into the family on the 12th of May 1911, followed by Florence Muriel, on the 18th of August 1913.

They then lived in Forrestville for a short time and then Freeling where Thomas joined the Freeling Rifle Club.
He was also employed with May Bros & Co in Gawler.

By early 1915 they had moved to Gibson Street, Bowden.

At the age of 31, Thomas enlisted into the AIF on the 5th of July 1915 in Keswick, SA and was allotted the service number 443 and posted to the Base Infantry, L Group in Mitcham Camp.
He was then transferred to the newly raised 32nd Battalion and posted to B Company.

Thomas embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT Geelong on the 18th of November 1915 and whilst he was on the voyage Phyllis gave birth to little Phyllis Emily on the 6th of December 1915.

Thomas disembarked in Suez on the 18th of December and after further training was transferred to the newly raised 48th Battalion.
He served in France and suffered shell shock before suffering from Asthma and Bronchitis.

He embarked for Australia on the 27th of September 1917 on board SS Suevic and disembarked in Adelaide on the 20th of November.

Thomas was discharged, medically unfit, from the AIF on the 4th of December 1917 and received a War Pension of £1/10/- per fortnight.
Whilst Thomas was overseas, Phyllis moved their young family to Goose Island, Gawler, to be close to her parents.

Thomas rejoined his family and on Wednesday evening, the 5th of December, a welcome home social was held in Gawler for Thomas and 2 other soldiers.
Thomas and Phyllis lived in Bridge Street Gawler and they then welcomed Thomas Henry into the family on the 13th of December 1918.

By 1921 they had moved to 77 Cedar Avenue, West Croydon and Thomas gained employment as a driver.
They then welcomed Dorothy Thelma on the 29th of December 1921 and Thomas joined the West Croydon RSL.

By the early 1940’s they had moved to 283 Carrington Street, Adelaide and they lived there until the later 1940’s when they moved to 53a Pulsford Road, Prospect.

With the outbreak of WW2 their son Thomas enlisted (SX10957) on the 15th of January 1941.

Thomas died on the 9th of June 1958 in the Royal Adelaide Hospital of a Cerebral Vascular accident and was buried the following day on the Dudley Park Cemetery; Section TB, Path 9, Site 0187.

Military

At the age of 31, Thomas enlisted into the AIF on the 5th of July 1915 in Keswick, SA and was allotted the service number 443 and posted to the Base Infantry, L Group in Mitcham Camp.
He listed his wife, of Gibson Street, Bowden, as his next of kin.

On the 16th of August he was transferred to the newly raised 32nd Battalion and posted to B Company.

Thomas embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT Geelong on the 18th of November 1915, disembarked in Suez on the 18th of December and marched into the Isolation Camp at Moascar.
Four weeks, after spending Christmas in the Isolation Camp, he was posted to the 8th Training Battalion in Zeitoun.

On the 3rd of March 1916 Thomas suffered from Refraction in his Left Eye and was admitted into the 15th Australian Field Ambulance at Tel-el-Kebir and then transferred to the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital.
The following day he was transferred to the 3rd Australian General Hospital in Abbassia and diagnosed with Phlyctenular. He spent 3 weeks here before he was discharged to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Heliopolis on the 23rd of March for 7 days and then rejoined his Battalion.

On the 2nd of April Thomas was transferred to the newly raised 48th Battalion in Serapeum.
The 48th Battalion had been raised in Egypt on the 16th of March 1916 as part of the "doubling" of the AIF. Roughly half of its new recruits were Gallipoli veterans from the 16th Battalion, and the other half, fresh reinforcements from Australia.

The 48th Battalion became known as the "Joan of Arc" (the Maid of Orleans) Battalion because it was "made of all Leanes" - it was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Ray Leane, his brother was the adjutant and several other relatives were scattered throughout the Battalion.

On the 2nd of May Thomas suffered from Enteritis and Opacities of Media and was admitted into the 12th Australian Field Ambulance and then transferred to the 54th Casualty Clearing Station in Hazebrouck after 7 days.
Four days later he was transferred to the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital for a further 8 days.

At 9:15 on the 1st of June they entrained from Serapeum Siding and arrived in Alexandria the following morning and boarded their transport ship.
They sailed at 9am on the 3rd of June and disembarked in Marseilles 5 days later.
The following day they moved to Hazebrouck and then onto Bailleul on the 12th and then into their billets at Morris.
On the 3rd of July they moved to Doulieu and the following day they moved to Fleurbaix, where they relieved the 2nd Battalion.
Seven days later they moved back to Merris, entrained to Berteaucourt and then marched to Toutencourt.
Then on the 29th of July they marched to Harponville and 3 days later they moved to Albert where the bivouacked at Brickfields.
They then moved to Tara Hill and their first major battle on the Western Front was Pozieres.

Here, they were tasked with defending ground captured in earlier attacks by the 2nd Division and entered the firing line on two separate occasions.
Between the 5th and 7th of August they endured what was said to be the heaviest artillery barrage ever experienced by Australian troops and they suffered 598 casualties.

Then again on the 12th of August they were hit by another great artillery barrage and during this Thomas suffered from Shell Shock and was admitted into the 7th Australian Field Ambulance and then transferred to the 44th Casualty Clearing Station at Puchevillers.
The following day he was evacuated by Ambulance Train and admitted into the Boulogne Rest Station.

After four weeks here Thomas was discharged to the 4th ADBD (Australian Division Base Depot) in Etaples and then rejoined his Battalion on the 1st of October at Ridgewood, who was in support.

They were then required to defend ground captured during the Battle of Mouquet Farm and Christmas 1916 was then spent at Flesselles in training.
They then moved to Franvilliers, Dernancourt, Fricourt and Brazentin before reaching Flers on the 8th of January and moving into the front line.
They were then relieved 10 days later and moved into Brisbane Camp and here on the 21st of January Thomas suffered from the Mumps and was admitted into the 39th Casualty Clearing Station in Allonville.
Then on the 28th he was transferred to the 14th Stationary Hospital Boulogne, which was an Isolation Hospital.

Five days later Thomas was discharged to No.1 Convalescent Depot and then on the 16th of February he was posted to Base Detail in Etaples.
Thomas then rejoined his Battalion on the 12th of March who was in training at Henencourt Wood.

By now the German army had withdrawn to the Hindenburg Line in order to shorten their front and thus make their positions easier to defend. This move was rapidly followed up by the British and empire forces, and they launched an offensive around Arras in early April 1917.

To assist the Arras operations, an attack was launched on Bullecourt on the 11th of April and Thomas and the 48th Battalion were heavily involved.
The attack was hastily planned and mounted and resulted in disaster.
Tanks which were supposed to support the attacking Australian infantry either broke down or were quickly destroyed.
Without armoured support, Thomas and the Australian infantry achieved what was, until then, considered an impossible feat; breaking into the German trenches without a protective artillery barrage.
Within hours though, they faced annihilation.

Exposed on both flanks, cut off from reinforcements by German artillery fire and at risk of being trapped by Germans working their way to the Australians’ rear, the survivors made a break for their own lines.
Less than ten hours after it began, the assault had ended in failure. Some 3,000 Australians had been killed or wounded and more than 1,100 were taken prisoner.

The following night they moved to Bapaume and then entrained for Albert on the 12th and marched to Fricourt.
They began training here before moving to Henencourt Wood on the 17th to continue training before moving to billets at Millencourt 5 days later.

They then moved to Bailleul on the 16th of May where they were engaged in unloading ammunitions.
By June they had moved to Steenwerck where they were engaged in digging assembly trenches before moving to La Creche into the front line.
They were in and out of the front line here until the end of June when they moved to Ploegsteert Wood where they were engaged in cable burying and front line rotation.
They were also involved in the attack on the Messines – Wytschaete Ridge before moving to Doulieu on the 18th of July into billets.

It was here on the 30th of July that Thomas suffered from severe Asthma and Bronchitis and was admitted into the 12th Australian Field Ambulance and then transferred to the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station in Bailleul.
He was then admitted into the 53rd General Hospital in Boulogne on the 1st of August and 11 days later he was invalided to England on board HS St Patrick and admitted into the Tooting Military Hospital.
On the 28th of August Thomas was transferred to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Dartford and then 3 days later he was discharged to No.2 Command Depot in Weymouth.

Thomas embarked for Australia on the 27th of September 1917 on board SS Suevic and disembarked in Adelaide on the 20th of November.

Thomas was discharged, medically unfit, from the AIF on the 4th of December 1917 and awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War & Victory Medals.

He received a War Pension of £1/10/- per fortnight