Wynne, Thomas Jack

3132 Private Thomas Jack Wynne - 10th Light Horse Regiment

Thomas Jack Wynne was born in Fremantle WA in 1890 to Thomas and Alice Wynne. 

He was educated in Fremantle and after leaving school he took up work as a farm hand and was working in Northam prior to enlisting in the Great War.

His sister Daisy was living at 29 Collie Street in Fremantle.

On the 16th March 1916 Tom enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was found to be fit for enlistment with the medical examiner recording Tom's physical attributes as;

Height - 5 feet 10 & 1/2 inches tall;

Weight - 153 lbs;

Chest Measurement - 35-38 inches;

Complexion - Fresh;

Eyes - Grey;

Hair - Black.

Upon his successful enlistment, Tom was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp and was assigned to No.60 Training Depot. He was taken through the basics of infantry work then in May 1916 was transferred to the 19th Reinforcements to the 10th light Horse Regiment.

Tom's mother Alice died in September 1916 and it appears that Tom was withdrawn from his reinforcement group and was later sent to the 24th Reinforcement group to the 10th Light Horse Regiment.

He trained with this group in WA for a few months while they waited for their departure orders. On the 13th February 1917 Tom boarded the transport ship Clan MacCorquodale and set sail for Egypt.

After arriving in Egypt in March 1917, Tom and his group were sent to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade Training Regiment at Moascar. Tom was with this group for a month but then joined the 10th light Horse Regiment on the 22nd April 1917.

Tom served with his Regiment after the failed Gaza action and over the next few months there was much patrolling done out towards Beersheba and Gaza. Tom took part in his Regiments actions at Beersheba in October 1917 and then at Jerusalem in November 1917.

The Light Horse advance continued and Jericho was captured in early 1918. The Light Horse then advanced up the Jordan Valley to Es Salt. The 10th Light Horse helped capture Es Salt in May 1918 but due to an overwhelming Turkish counter attack the town had to be abandoned. For the next few months a stalemate developed.

The conditions were very hot and malarial and many more were being evacuated due to sickness than battle casualties. In June 1918 Tom was sent to a Rest Camp at Port Said as he had over a years continuous service. It was only a two weeks rest period but would have helped. Tom returned to the 10th Light Horse on the 1st July 1918.

On the 17th August 1918 Tom fell ill and was sent to the 47th General hospital at Gaza. He was listed as having a PUO (Pyrexia of unknown origin) and was then transferred to the 24th Stationary Hospital. He had a few days there and was then transferred to the 14th Australian General Hospital at Port Said.

On the 3rd October 1918 he was released from hospital and sent to a rest camp. He spent two weeks at the rest camp and on the 17th October 1918 he went to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade Training Regiment at Moascar. While he was here the Turkish forces surrendered and shortly after on the 11th November the Germans also surrendered.

On the 20th November 1918 Tom join the 3rd Light Horse Brigade Details Camp. He rejoined the 10th Light Horse Regiment on the 15th December 1918.

Tom served with the 10th Regiment for the next five months including during the Egyptian uprising of March 1919. On the 2nd May 1919 Tom was sent to 26th Stationary hospital at Ismailia suffering from Malaria. He spent the next five weeks here but returned to the 10th Light Horse Regiment on the 16th June 1919.

On the 10th July 1919 Tom boarded the transport ship HT Oxfordshire and set sail for Australia, disembarking in Fremantle on the 4th August 1919.

On arrival back in Fremantle Tom was sent to No.8 Australian General Hospital in South Terrace Fremantle and then to the Artillery Barracks which was the Malarial Hospital. He was discharged from the AIF on the 11th September 1919.

In 1919 in Perth Thomas married Ellinor Maud Hall and a son called Thomas Leslie Wynne was born in Goomalling Hospital near Northam in 1922.

After working in Northam for a few years the family then returned to Perth and Tom secured work with the Engineers Department of the Perth Roads Board.

Thomas Wynne died in Mt Lawley on the 18th November 1951 aged 60. He was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery plot Roman Catholic LA 0314.