The AIF Project

Thomas Jackson DAVID

Regimental number6486
Place of birthFassifern Station, Queensland
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationStockmam
AddressJondaryan, Queensland
Marital statusMarried
Age at embarkation30
Height5' 6"
Weight135 lbs
Next of kinWife, Mrs M.K. David c/o W.L. Bateman, Jubilee Street, Coorparoo, Queensland
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date2 May 1916
Place of enlistmentBrisbane, Queensland
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name15th Battalion, 21st Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/32/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A36 Boonah on 21 October 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll15th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 11 April 1917
Age at death from cemetery records31
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
75
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Agnes Janet DAVID and the late Robert Protheroe DAVID; Wife: Margaret Kerr DAVID, Pope Street, Ipswich Road, Sandy Creek, Brisbane
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Brisbane, 21 October 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 10 January 1917, and marched into 4th Training Bn, Codford, the same day.

Proceeded overseas to France, 28 February 1917; marched into 4th Australian Divisional Base Depot, Etaples, 1 March 1917.

Proceeded to unit, 5 March 1917; taken on strength of 15th Bn, in the field, 7 March 1917.

Admitted to No 13 Australian Field Ambulance, 21 March 1917 (mumps); transferred to No 6 Australian Field Ambulance, 21 March 1917; to Corps Mumps Station, 21 March 1917; discharged, 8 April 1917; rejoined unit, 10 April 1917.

Posted as missing in action, 11 April 1917.

Court of Enquiry, Crapy, 11 April 1917, pronounces fate as 'Killed in Action, 2 November 1917'.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, DAVID Thomas Jackson

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