Premier's Anzac Memorial Scholarship 2016

 

Video Diaries I - V





















Soldier Profile

Second Lieutenant James Ambrose Thompson of the Wiltshire Regiment 3rd Battalion attached to the 2nd Battalion (BEF).

James was the son of James Ambrose Thompson and Amy Edith Thompson of Killara, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

James enlisted in Wiltshire, England in 1916 as a 2nd Lieutenant in the British forces Wiltshire Regiment in the 3rd Battalion. After his enlistment, James was sent straight to France to join the 1st Wiltshire Regiment.

The Wiltshire Regiment was immersed in the Battle of the Transloy Ridges (The First Battle of the Somme); the Battle of Le Transloy took place in October 1916 from the 1st-18th of October. On the morning of the 18th of October 1916, British positions were flooded, troops slipped and fell in the mud and weapons were clogged, leaving only hand grenades and bayonets to fight with. The 2nd Wiltshire Regiment attacked the Gird lines and found uncut wire on the right and enfiladed from the left. Most of the 2nd Wiltshire were killed. Casualties of this battle totalled 39,784. Among them was 20 year old James Ambrose Thompson, an Australian Killed in Action near Bapaume, France. Like many soldiers of World War 1, James has no known resting place. He is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial on Pier and face 13A. 

THOMPSON JAMES AMBROSE

Private Cochrane