Private

Ernest John Thacker

Ernest John Thacker was born in Oxenford, Queensland, on the 5th of May 1897, to Mr Charles Edwin Thacker and Mrs Rebecca Jane Thacker (nee Gilpin) as the youngest of their three children. His older siblings were (from eldest to youngest) his sister Amy and his brother William.  

Ernest John Thacker was born in Oxenford,  Queensland, on the 5th of May 1897, to Mr Charles Edwin Thacker and Mrs Rebecca Jane Thacker (nee Gilpin) as the youngest of their three children. His older siblings were (from eldest to youngest) his sister Amy and his brother William. His father Charles was a railway worker who was tragically killed by a lightning strike on the 10th of January 1900 while working near Cunnamulla Queensland; Ernest was aged 2 years and 8 months at the time. His widowed mother remarried in 1904 to her new husband Thomas William Dorestt. Their only son David was born one year later, giving Ernest a half-brother. Prior to the War Ernest also served in the cadets and citizen forces while plying his trade as a butcher. Ernest enlisted on 17th of February 1917 and his brother William enlisted about a week later on the 23rd of February 1917, possibly intending to serve together. However, this was not to be as William was assigned to the 15th battalion and Ernest was assigned to the 41st Battalion. The 41st Battalion was raised at Bell's Paddock Camp in Brisbane in February 1916 with recruits from Queensland and the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales. It formed part of the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Australian Division

The 26th of June 1918 saw several artillery duels fought between the Germans and allied gunners near the village of Villers-Bretonneux where the 41st Battalion was stationed. Several casualties were sustained by the 41st Battalion including Private Ernest Thacker. This occurred when he was acting as a temporary stretcher bearer, attending to the wounded near Villers Bretonneux at 3.30pm on 26 June 1918. Pte Thacker had stopped to render assistance to Sergeant Llewellyn Richards who had been hit by shell fire when a second shell expolded nearby killing Pte Thacker and inflicting aditional wounds on Sgt Richards.

Ernest's older brother William survived the war, although he spent a significant amount of his service in hospital, initially ill and later wounded in action. He participated in the final '100 days' campaign which led to the defeat of Germany and the end of the war, where he was wounded in action on the 28th of August 1918 by a gas attack. In 1926 he married Dorothy Bignell who was the older sister of Walter and Sidney Bignell who are also listed on the Upper Coomera Cenotaph. The couple had one son who they named Ernest. William went on to serve again in the Second World War and his son Ernest would go on to serve in the Royal Australian Navy.

Adelaide Cemetery Villers-Bretonneux - Video Wings, Rails And Road Youtube

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