Thomas John SHEPHERD

Regimental number775
Place of birthMount Morgan, Queensland
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationMiner
Address25 Park Road, St Peters, Sydney, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation22
Height5' 7"
Weight154 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs Shepherd, 25 Park Road, St Peters, Sydney, New South Wales
Enlistment date16 September 1914
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name9th Battalion, G Company
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board Transport A5 Omrah on 24 September 1914
Rank from Nominal RollLance Corporal
Unit from Nominal Roll9th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 20 September 1917
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 17), 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
57
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Embarked from Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Gallipoli), 2 March 1915. Admitted to 3rd Field Ambulance, 13 September 1915, and transferred to 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station; thence to hospital ship to 25th Casualty Clearing Station, Imbros (pyrexia, unknown origin); to Base, Mudros, 15 September 1915. Embarked for Alexandria, 20 September 1915; admitted to No. 1 Auxiliary Hospital, Luna Park, 21 September 1915 (constipation); to Ras el Tin, 19 October 1915 (debility); to Australian Overseas Base, Cairo, 15 November 1915; to No. 2 Australian Stationary Hospital, Cairo, 17 November 1915; discharged to Base Details, 2 December 1915 (abcess, jaw). Found guilty,15 December 1915, of being absent from Camp from 10 pm, 12 December, to 1.40 am, 13 December 1915: awarded 7 days' confined to Camp. Discharged from Overseas Base to unit, Tel el Kebir, 28 December 1915; rejoined unit, 4 January 1916. Found guilty, 24 January 1916, of being absent without leave from 0700, 20 January, to 0700, 24 January 1916: awarded 24 hours' Field Punishment No. 2 and forfeited 5 days' pay.

Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 27 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 3 April 1916. Found guilty, Steenwercke, 13 May 1916, of conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline by failing to attend parade at the time ordered: awarded 48 hours' Field Punishment No. 2.

Wounded in action, France, 21 August 1916 (gun shot wound, chest and foot); admitted to 29th General Hospital, Etaples, 23 August 1916; transferred to England, 17 September 1916, and admitted to hospital (details not recorded). Discharged on furlough from No. 3 Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford, 18 October 1916, to report to No. 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 2 November 1916.Marched out to No. 4 Command Depot, Wareham, 13 November 1916. Admitted to 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital, Bulford, 13 March 1917 (scabies); discharged, 28 March 1917. Found guilty, 4 March 1917, of being absent without leave from 12 noon, 1 March 1917, to reporting back, 3 March 1917: awarded 3 days' Field Punishment No. 2 and forfeited 6 days' pay. Marched in to No. 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 14 May 1917. Found guilty, 25 May 1917, of being absent without leave from Tattoo Roll Call, 19 May, till 11 pm, 21 May 1917: awarded 2 days' Field Punishment No. 2 (in custody 3 days) and forfeited 8 days' pay.

Proceeded overseas to France, 3 June 1917; rejoined 9th Bn, 24 June 1917. Appointed Lance Corporal, 13 August 1917. To Brigade School, 17 August 1917; rejoined Bn, 10 September 1917.

Killed in action, Belgium, 20 September 1917. Buried at Chateau Wood.

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