Thomas Martin TRIPCONY
Service
number: 1986. Age:
25 years. Enlisted: 22 Nov 1915.
Occupation: Farmer. Next of kin: (mother) Mrs. Margaret
Tripcony.
Address
on enlistment:
Cowie Bank, Pumicestone Passage.
Embroidered
souvenir postcard from France, showing flags of Italy, USA, UK,
France and Belgium, which was sent from France during Winter 1917 by
Thomas Martin Tripcony Junior, to his sister Jean Tripcony.[1]
Thomas Martin Tripcony Junior, to his sister Jean Tripcony.[1]
Service
Summary:
1915: 2 reinforcement 49 Infantry Battalion.
1 May 1916: Embarked from Brisbane on HMAT A46
Clan McGillivray.
23 May 1916: Transferred to 41 Battalion.
4 Nov 1916: Proceeded to France.
“The 41st Battalion was raised at Bell's
Paddock Camp in Brisbane in February 1916 with recruits from Brisbane, northern
Queensland and the northern rivers district of New South Wales. It formed part
of the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Australian Division.
After training in Australia and Britain,
the 41st Battalion arrived in France on 25 November 1916. It entered the front
line for the first time on Christmas Eve and spent the bleak winter of 1916-17
alternating between service in the front line, and training and labouring in
the rear areas.
Compared to some AIF battalions, the 41st's
experience of the battles in Belgium during 1917 was relatively straightforward.
It had a supporting role at Messines on 7 June, captured its objectives at
Broodseinde on 4 October with little difficulty, and was spared the carnage of
Passchendaele on 12 October. It was some of the battalion's more
"routine" tasks that proved its most trying experiences. At the end
of June 1917, the 11th Brigade was ordered to establish a new front line west
of Warneton, in full view of the Germans. Work carried on night and day under
heavy shellfire and the period became known to the battalion as "the 18
days". The start of August found the 41st holding ground captured by two
of its sister battalions in a feint attack on 31 July. Enduring continual rain,
flooded trenches and heavy shelling many of the battalion's platoons dwindled
from 35 men to less than ten.
Belgium remained the focus of the 41st
Battalion's activities for the five months after its action in October 1917 as
it was rotated between service in the rear areas and the front line. When the
German Army launched its last great offensive in March 1918, the battalion was
rushed south to France and played a role in blunting the drive towards the
vital railway junction of Amiens.
The Allies launched their own offensive on
8 August 1918, and the 41st played an active role both in the initial attack
and the long advance that followed throughout August and into September. The
41st participated in its last major action of the war between 29 September and
2 October 1918 as part of the Australian-American operation that breached the
formidable defences of the Hindenburg Line along the St Quentin Canal. The
battalion was out of the line when the war ended and was disbanded in May
1919.” [2]
4 Oct 1917: Wounded in action – left arm
and right ankle.
12 Mar 1918: Returned to Australia from
England per Kenilworth Castle; from
Durban 28 Apr 1918 per Field Marshall.
26 Jun 1918: Discharged.
Life
Summary:
Thomas Martin Tripcony (1889-1975) was the second eldest son of
Andrew Buchanan Tripcony (1864-1945) and Margaret Cochrane (1861-1941). Tom was
named for his paternal grandfather Thomas Martin Tripcony (1829-1897) who selected 1100 acres at Cowrie
Bank, Pumicestone Passage in the early 1870s.
[1]
Courtesy of Sunshine Coast Libraries Image M865991 https://sunshinecoast.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/OPAC/BIBENQ?BRN=522036 [per Grace MacBride nee Tripcony]
[2] Australian
War Memorial 41st Australian Infantry Battalion https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51481
[3] Honour Board Unveiled, Caloundra. The Brisbane
Courier Wed 15 Dec 1915, p. 7 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20062483
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