Contributed by Ron Inglis, April 2022:
Born in Lidcombe, packer Thomas William Board enlisted in the AIF at Liverpool on 10 June 1915. On enlistment he declared he was ’22 9/12’, single, and he nominated his mother, Elizabeth of Albert Road, Lidcombe, as his next-of-kin. Board declared no previous military service and embarked on the Orsova after one month of training.
Private Board served on Gallipoli for the last three months prior to the evacuation. Returning to Egypt he was allocated to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Australian Division, and he moved off with them to the Western Front arriving in the French port of Marseilles on 28 March 1916. The Australians travelled by train to the Nursery Sector in the far north of France but after several months there they were brought south to participate in the Battle of the Somme that had begun with a British attack on 1 July 1916.
Board was killed between 22 and 27 July 1916 in the first days of the Australian action at Pozières. His body was never found, therefore his name was inscribed on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux when that monument was unveiled in 1938.
In 1922, Board's medals were sent to his father, who was living in Brick Wharf Road, Woy Woy. In 1968, his sister, Florence Williams of Balgowlah, the only surviving relative, applied for the Gallipoli Medallion then being issued. She also enquired about her brother’s medals, saying she had no knowledge of them.
Thomas Board is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Lidcombe War Memorial
- St Stephens Anglican Church Lidcombe Memorial Plaques
- Auburn Boys Public School Great War Photographic Honour Roll
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra