Embarkation Roll
Thomas Purcell
First Name:
Thomas
Last Name:
Purcell
Mother's Name:
Nora (nee Looney)
Father's Name:
Thomas Purcell
Date Enlisted:
Tuesday, November 10, 1914
Rank at Enlistment:
Private
Rank at Discharge:
Private
Unit:
3rd Battalion
Service:
Infantry
Awards:
1914/1915 Star
British War Medal
Victory Medal
Date of Death:
Saturday, May 23, 1959
Place of Death:
Sydney
Details:
Thomas Purcell (Service Number: 596,1417, 1447, 2417) was born in Mount Kembla in 1892. He would have been in class at the Mount Kembla school on the day of the Mount Kembla mine disaster when his father was killed.
Prior to enlisting in the AIF he worked as a ship steward. Thomas was an early enlistment and he sailed on the HMAT A48 Seang Bee with 2nd Reinforcements, 3rd Battalion on 11th February, 1915. He landed on Gallipoli on 25th April but was wounded in action. He received a gun shot wound to his back and shoulder. He was admitted to hospital in Alexandria on 30th April.
On 29th August, 1915 he was readmitted to hospital with paralysis of his right arm.
In January 1916 he was returned to Australia. He was discharged medically unfit on 27th May, 1916.
Sources:
NAA: B2455, PURCELL THOMAS
