Corporal

William Thompson Corporal William Thompson

Memorial Stone

Iori Tani, 9 History 5

Headstone of William
Thompson
 Timeline 1/2

picryl.com Couriermail.com.au
?/5/92
Born in Leichhardt, NSW walesonline.co.uk 25/6/15
20/3/15
Left Australia
Enlistment in Liverpool, NSW

awm.gov.au 25/3/16
Left to Marseilles, France
awm.gov.au 11/9/15
Left to Helouan, Egypt
 Timeline
2/2

picryl.com https://vwma.org.au
9/8/18 5/10/18
Left to England Died fighting in France
 Enlistment 1/2
On the 28th of July, 1914, after the assassination of
Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in a
trip to Bosnia, the First World War had begun. During
this war, after Britain joined the war, propaganda
posters were sent out (source 1), telling citizens of a
promise Australia made with Britain. Because of
this, Australia was drafted into this war (August
1914).

Source 1
Source 2
 Enlistment 2/2
After around 7 months after Australia joined the war,
William Thompson enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force
on the 20th of March, 1915, shown in source 2. This second
source also shows the location of enlistment and the day of
his enlistment; Liverpool on a Saturday. Source 3, shown
below shows William Thompson’s age and his physical
details, showing his age of enlistment; 22 years and 10
months old. William Thompson joined the Australian
Imperial Force as a Private for the 20th Infantry Battalion.

Source 3 Source 2
 Trench Warfare
Trench Warfare was a style of fighting in which soldiers fought and
lived in long narrow ditches which are the trenches. These
trenches were often very muddy and wet and would house rats
and lice.
This created a terrible environment for the men sent to fight in the
war. Life in these trenches were extremely dangerous, soldiers
were always at a risk of being hurt or killed by explosions or other
weapons. As well as the ongoing threat of injuries from enemies,
the pests would also create risks of injuries.
Trench fever is an infectious disease caused by the faeces of body
lice. This caused fever, headaches, eye pain, weakness, soreness in
muscles and joints and severe pain in shins and the back. This was
extremely dangerous as the close proximity to soldiers in the
trenches would cause infect others. Source 4
(https://medium.com/@bauer_h/life-in-the-trenches-trench-warfare-in-wwi-b9a3bca77b1)
Trench foot is another example of disease caused from the
environment of the trenches. Trench foot is a disease caused from Shown above is a simplified diagram of the
standing in a cold, wet environment for prolonged periods of time. trenches; a trench dug out, large enough for
This would cause your foot to go numb, red and cause swelling. At soldiers to stand and rest in. They would stand
first, your foot would start tingling and itching, which would on the fire step, resting their weapons on the
eventually turn into numbness. Because of the temperature, your sandbags on the front of the trench. They would
foot would start losing blood flow. Blisters would also occur fire toward the No Man’s Land where the
enemies would be in their trenches.
 Battalions
William Thompson was part of the Australian Imperial
Force, in the 20th Infantry Battalion, seen in Source 7. The
20th Infantry Battalion was created in early 1915 in
Liverpool New South Wales in order to form the fourth
Battalion of the 5th Brigade in the second division. The
patch shown in Source 6 reflects these affiliations of the
fourth Battalion, the shape indicating the second Division,
the green colour indicating the first brigade of the division
and the white colour indicating the fourth battalion.
Some of these soldiers in the 20th battalion served in the
Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force who Source 7
captured German New Guinea (1914). The battalion left (https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/288)

Australia in June, training in Egypt until August. They then

landed at ANZAC Cove in The Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey to
fight in the war on the 22nd of August. The role of the
20th Battalion was to defend the Cove against the Triple
Alliance. After the defence of Russell's Top, they moved
back to Egypt where they would train further, where they
Source 6
would proceed to fight in France. (https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/288)
 Health & Wellbeing
Health and wellbeing was a major concern in World War I. Often
fighting for months, if not years in less than ideal environments,
where disease would spread. The soldiers being situated in
trenches, they would often get trench foot, where the soldiers
would lose circulation of their foot after being the cold, wet
environment of the trenches. This would blisters, blotchy skin,
redness, and dead skin tissue.
Another disease that would often affect the life of these soldiers
were respiratory tract diseases such as Influenza, pneumonia, the
spanish flu and others. The combination of Influenza and
pneumonia was especially dangerous, which combined took the
life of over 3,000 Australian soldiers. The events that these
soldiers went through would cause shell shock. Shell shock is a
sort of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) that lots of World
War I soldiers would experience. This was PTSD as an reaction the
amount of bombing and fighting that caused a feeling of
helplessness which would be seen as panic, fear, inability to Source 9
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand-yard_stare)
reason, sleep, walk or even talk. Soldiers would also have what Source 8
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand-yard_stare)
people described as the “Thousand Yard Stare” or the “Two
Thousand Yard Stare”. This was used to describe the blank gaze of
people being disassociated due to stress. Source 8 is a war artist’s
painting of the “Two Thousand Yard Stare”, and source 9 is a photo
of a US marine with the Thousand Yard Stare.
 Propaganda Posters
Propaganda would be would be very common and
especially effective during war. These posters were
often designed to be intentionally manipulative in guilt
and fear to convince people to enlist. This can be seen in
source 10. These other posters seen to the side also use
manipulation to guilt people into joining the army.
Source 11 compares the war to a bushfire, asking
people if they would leave a bushfire raged, comparing Source 10
this to the war, again comparing the fire to the germans
telling people to fight back. The poster seen in source 12
attempts to make the war sound like just a sport or
game. The writing “Join Together, Train Together,
Embark Together and Fight Together” This makes the
war more appealing to people, telling them if they enlist
with their friends they get to train, leave and fight for
their country together. These posters enlisted many Source 11
soldiers and raised lots of money for the war through (https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/ARTV00148)

these manipulative tactics.

Source 12
(https://memorabiliawarehouse.com.au/products/ww1-enlistment-sportsmens-poster)
 William Thompson’s Will
Source 14 shows us William Thompson’s will, signed on the
30th of march, 1917. These two sources, Source 13 and
Source 14 tell us that William Thompson wanted all of his
belongings to his mother and father on the event of his
death. Source 14 also tells us that at the time of signing this,
William Thompson was a private, telling us that this was
signed near the start of his time in the army. Source 14 tells
us that William Thompson was killed during his time of
battle, however, due to the isolated locations of the trenches
he fought in meant that it was difficult for his belongings to
be returned to his family. Source 15, however, shows us that
William did not have many belongings held at the time of Source 13
(https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=1836453&S=6&N=58&R=0#/Sea

the death. rchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=1836453&T=P&S=21)

Source 15
(https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=1836453&S=6&N=58&R=0#/Sea
rchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=1836453&T=P&S=21)
Source 14
(https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=1836453&S=6&N=58&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowI
mage.aspx?B=1836453&T=P&S=21)
 Reflection

In conclusion, this topic of researching WWI and its veterans helped me advance my
understanding of the horrors of wars. Researching my soldier, Corporal William Thompson,
Australia’s involvement in the war, the environments of trenches, health and side effects of
war. I learnt about the life and conditions that the soldiers in trenches would live in, with
constant threat of death, infection and disease, as well as the impact that the war would
make on the soldier’s mental health, causing severe PTSD. Being able to learn about soldiers,
who lived relatively close to where I have also added to the interestingness of this topic. This
topic made me realise the true horrors of war, having lasted for 4 years with a total of 40
million people killed during it. Researching this made me have a deeper respect for all the
Australian soldiers who fought to protect our country and others, making the world the place
we know now. Overall, this assessment helped me deepen my knowledge in war as well as
William Thompson’s personal experience in this war.
 Bibliography - Research
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https://www.healthline.com/health/shell-shock-ptsd#:~:text=%E2%80%9CShell%20shock%E2%80%9D%20is%20a%20term

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 Bibliography - Research
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