Thomas Charles Edward GODFREY

Date of birth25 April 1891
Place of birthRichmond, Melbourne, Victoria
SchoolXavier College, Kew, Victoria
ReligionRoman Catholic
OccupationAccountant
Address30 Berry Street, East Melbourne, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation24
Height5' 7"
Weight134 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs Elizabeth Amelia Godfrey, 108 Smith Street, Collingwood, Victoria
Previous military serviceServed for 6 months in the ranks, 6th Infantry Regiment; 12 months, 63rd Infantry; 2.6 years commissioned, 63rd Infantry.; Served as 2nd Lt, 63rd Regt, East Melbourne.
Enlistment date1 May 1915
Rank on enlistmentLieutenant
Unit name24th Battalion, C Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/41/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 10 May 1915
Rank from Nominal RollCaptain
Unit from Nominal Roll24th Battalion
Recommendations (Medals and Awards)

Military Cross


For conspicuous gallantry and ability in command of his Comapny during the capture of portion of the Hindenburg Line, when he secured the left fank against hostile counter attacks and reorganised the garrison.
Recommendation date: 12 May 1917

FateKilled in Action 4 October 1917
Place of death or woundingPasschendaele, Ypres, Belgium
Age at death26.5
Age at death from cemetery records26
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 23), Belgium

The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave.

The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936.

Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
101
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Charles and Elizabeth GODFREY, 1 Simpson Street, East Melbourne. Native of Richmond, Victoria
Medals

Military Cross

'For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. During an attack upon the enemy line he secured the left flank against counter attacks, and, though blown down by a shell during the charge, remained at the head of his men, upon whom his coolness and courage had a splendid effect.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 189
Date: 8 November 1917

Family/military connectionsCousin: 5820 Pte Thomas DOLAN, 25th Bn, killed in action, 20 September 1917.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Proceeded to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 30 August 1915. Promoted Temporary Captain, 8 December 1915; Captain, 8 December 1915. Disembarked Alexandria from Mudros, 27 December 1915 (general Gallipoli evacuation).

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 20 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 26 March 1916.

Admitted to 6th Australian Field Ambulance, 7 April 1917 (uttacaria); transferred to Divisional Rest Station, 8 April 1917; to Officers' Hospital, Warloy, 11 April 1917; discharged to duty, 18 April 1917. Rejoined Bn, 20 April 1917.

Awarded Military Cross.

Killed in action, Belgium, 4 October 1917.

Sniped through the head while leading his company in the attack on Broodseinde Ridge; buried by a Bn party, bn cross erected. Grave lost in subsequent fighting.

Medals: Military Cross, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal