For sale is a British War Medal (1914 – 18) impressed named 6510 PTE T. GUEST. 8 – BN. A.I.F. Which comes with copied extracts service records and battalion war diary extract.

Thomas Guest was born in Richmond, Victoria, Australia about 1890. A labourer by trade he enlisted into the 21st Reinforcements 8th Battalion on 18/4/1916 and departed Australia on the 2/10/1916 bound for England landing in November.

After further training he was deployed to France on 28/3/1917. Posted to the 2nd Infantry Training Battalion at Etaples where he fell foul of the harsh disciplinary regime being charged with being out of bounds and not being in possession of his AB64 (pay book I.D.).

He joined the 8th Battalion on 10/5/1917. He was wounded in action on 20/9/1917 receiving a gunshot wound to his right arm and shoulder during a battalion attack at Passchendaele. The battalion lost some 4 officers killed and 6 wounded with 40 men killed, 160 wounded, 13 missing and a further 6 dying of wounds. The tragedy of the operation was that at least half the casualties were caused by one of our own batteries consistently firing short during the advance.

The war diary makes note of heavy rainfall and the slushy state of the ground, a forewarning of what Passchendaele was to become infamous for.

Evacuated to England he returned to the battalion on 6/2/1918 in time to face the German Spring Offensive.

He was charged with being A.W.O.L. from 29/4/1918 – 11/5/1918 receiving 28 days field punishment No 2 and stoppage of pay for 40 days. Apart from a detachment to the 1st Division Salvage Company for a week in July 1918 he remained with the 8th for the remainder of the war and returned to Australia  for discharge in 1919.