Documents are the essential resource for anyone researching their family tree. I spend a lot of time reading through records of all types, then follow this up with hours and hours spent analysing the information, coming to conclusions and entering accurate, worthwhile data on my family tree. Most of the time this process does not elicit an emotional response.
There are some documents however that really do tug at the heartstrings. They make you pause and consider the impact certain events have on people you may have never met but feel a very strong connection to, because they're family. War Service Records belong in this category of documents.
Every year, as we approach our national day of remembrance known as ANZAC Day (April 25th), I pull out one of these records, spend time reading through it all very thoroughly, then pause to reflect on the contribution made by that family member, and the impact their service must have had on their immediate family at the time. This year I thought I'd share some of the details from one particular war service record, from World War 1.
What's in an Australian World War 1 service record?
- an attestation paper completed on enlistment. It includes next-of-kin, employment, marital status, age, place of birth and a physical description
- a service and casualty form which shows movements and transfers between units, promotions and details of injuries and treatment
- military correspondence between the Department of defence and the soldier's next-of-kin notifying of wounds or death, awards and medals, and answering questions on the whereabouts of a service member.
There are no details about that service member's involvement in particular actions and battles, nor any account of their day-to-day life in the service. Those aspects of their war-time service need to be discovered elsewhere.
This week's post uses one particular war service record to tell the story mostly of my paternal 1st cousin 2x removed, Ernest Thomas Stanley Cusack (1897 - 1919), but I do include a few little details about two of his brothers, who also answered the call to support the British Empire during the dark days of World War 1.
Our Common Ancestors are: Patrick Cusack and Eliza Exton.
Ernest Thomas Stanley (known as Tom by his close family) was born in July of 1897, the son of James Cusack and Mary Ann Catherine Davies. He was the 8th of 14 children born to James and Mary Ann. There were 6 boys and 8 girls in the family. Ernest was born in the Murwillumbah area of New South Wales, but by the time he was 18, the family were living in Byron Bay.
As Ernest was approaching the end of his teenage years, his world was drastically changed by the outbreak of a world war. When the U.K. declared war on Germany on the 4th of August 1914, nations in the British Empire, including Australia, followed willingly. Recruiting offices around Australia opened only 6 days after the war began.
Around 55,000 young men joined the newly formed AIF (Australian Imperial Force) in the first 4 months of the war. Nearly 100,000 enlisted between April and October the following year, 1915.
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| Tel elKabir, Egypt The Australian Army training camp c. 1916 Photo courtesy of the Australian War Memorial |
Unfortunately, or luckily (depends on your point of view), he was admitted to hospital in March of 1916 with acute appendicitis.
Harold did not proceed with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and did not end up seeing action during the war.
He returned to Australia in May of 1916 and was discharged, medically unfit, upon arrival back home.
I'm assuming Harold met up with his younger brother Ernest upon his return to Australia, and no doubt had many long conversations about what it was like sailing overseas and landing in Egypt. Maybe these stories helped convince Ernest that he also needed to serve.
Not long after, on the 15th of June 1916, Ernest himself enlisted with the 5th Machine Gun Battalion.
First of all, he submitted his application to enlist:
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| Application to Enlist |
This provides some basic information - Ernest was literate, as he was able to provide a complete signature. His occupation was that of labourer. His father, James Cusack, had passed away and his mother, Mary Ann, was the one who gave consent for Ernest to enlist and added her signature to the document. Ernest was aged 18 years and 11 months.
On the same day, in the town of Lismore in New South Wales, his attestation papers were completed and signed by Ernest.
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| Front page of the Attestation Paper |
So it was, that on June 15 1916, Ernest signed his life away.
For some unknown reason, of the three Cusack brothers who enlisted in WW1, there are enlistment photos for both of Ernest's older brothers, but none of Ernest. His attestation papers do however provide a little detail about his physical appearance.
This is why I spend time pouring over documents. Given this information, I found I was able to visualise Ernest without a photo. He was quite a tall sturdy young man, 5 ft 8", with brown hair and grey eyes, weighing 9 1/2 stone.
Another of Ernest's older brothers enlisted just two months later.
James Herbert Cusack enlisted in August of 1916 and his unit embarked from Brisbane on the 27th of October 1916.
James remained overseas, fighting on the Western Front, throughout 1917, 1918 and half of 1919. He returned to Australia in August of 1919.
He had married in London, in May of 1919, so returned home with a bride.
Sadly, his younger brother Ernest never returned home. Let's return to Ernest's story:
Just three days before Christmas of 1916, Ernest embarked from Australia on the ship "Persic" and sailed off to join the war effort. His point of disembarkation was Devonport in England in March of 1917.
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| Belton Park Camp, near Grantham during WW1 |
He was "marched in" to the Machine Gun Corp training camp at Belton Park Camp near Grantham, but it appears he fell ill within a week and was in hospital for 11 days.
After that he returned to training. Each man in the Machine Gun Corp (MGC) spend a minimum of five weeks in training before being posted to one of the frontlines. They were taught the mathematics of the machine gun, firing, map reading and the use of semaphore flags.
It wasn't until June of 1917 that Ernest saw action in France. All of these details are clearly recorded on the first page of Ernest's Statement of Service Form:
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| Statement of Service Form |
The military correspondence section of Ernest's war service record shows that his mother received this telegram in October of 1917:
Such a brief, stark statement! Imagine receiving such a telegram! It would be frightening and I can only imagine the anxiety it must have caused. Of course, unknown to Ernest's mother, he was already in recovery. Ernest re-joined his unit just a couple of weeks later.
He was at Camiers Camp in France, which was the base depot of the Maching Gun Corps (known today as Etaples Camp).
He was also at Le Treport, which was an important hospital centre on the coast of northern France, about 50 miles south of Camiers.
As mentioned previously though, there is no mention of particular battles that he was involved in.
You can see on page 2 of this Casualty From that in March of 1918, he was granted leave in the U.K. for two weeks, and then was granted more leave in February of 1919.
Leave was granted to the majority of men and women who served in the First World War. When the war first begin, there was an expectation that it would be a short war. Of course, that proved to be far from the reality, so as the conflict dragged on, morale flagged and it became alarmingly clear that the hardship and horror of the front line fighting was taking a toll on soldier's physical and mental health.
Leave provided some respite from the dangers of war, and was deemed necessary in order to reduce the sense of separation which many of the Australian troops would have experienced, being so far from home. The intervals of leave were not long, but provided much needed moments of rest and recreation.
Unfortunately, whilst on this second round of leave, the benefits of this time off from war were very short-lived for Ernest. He contracted influenza and was admitted to Endell Street Military Hospital in London on the 21st of February 1919.
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| Endell Street Military Hospital London |
On February 24th there was an entry that read "dang. ill", which obviously meant "dangerously ill"; but that abbreviated word "dang." was crossed out at some point and "ser." was written underneath. That meant "seriously". So within 3 days, Ernest's health had deteriorated badly.
He hung on for nine days, but early on the tenth day, on the 3rd of March 1919, the Military Hospital at Endell Street sent a telegram to the Australian Army Headquarters in London, informing the office of the death of Private Cusack. He was 21 years old.
This is a section from the Report of Death Form completed at Endell Street Military Hospital:
The form lists 'influenza' as the disease Ernest was afflicted with, but there is the word 'pneumonia' scribbled in pencil underneath as well. It sounds like Ernest was indeed gravely ill. The form states that he passed away at 6.50 am on March the 3rd.
Ernest's mother, Mary Ann, received this telegram on March 6th indicating that her son, who had been away from home for over two years, was "seriously ill".
This news would have been devastating for everyone in the family, given they had not seen Ernest for such a long time. Of course, Ernest had already died by the time this telegram had been sent, so worse was to come for his mother and siblings.
A newspaper article printed in the Tweed Daily newspaper indicates that the news of Ernest's death did not reach home until March the 8th (although there is an error regarding his name). The article goes on to say that it was the Byron Bay Shire Clerk who received this news first. He apparently then passed this on to a Reverend M. Gerry, who went to visit Mary Ann to give her the news.
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| Newspaper item in the Tweed Daily, Tues Mar 11 1919, p2 |
Amongst the war service records of my relatives who fought and died in the first World War, disease was not listed as a common cause of death. Of course, war creates perfect conditions for diseases to flourish and before the beginning of the 20th century, disease had indeed claimed many more military lives that combat itself.
Australians volunteering for the first world war were subjected to quite strict medical tests before enlistment and many were rejected. Australians were also given a range of inoculations when they joined up, including jabs to fight smallpox and typhoid.
Unfortunately, despite all these precautions, many thousands of Australian troops succumbed to disease during the war. The most common cause was respiratory tract infections, including influenza and pneumonia. Combined, they claimed around 3,300 Australian lives during the war, and Ernest was one of them.
In Ernest's war service record there is a Burial Report, dated 12th March 1919, that provides some information about his funeral.
Ernest was buried in the Australian Military Burial Ground at Brookwood, in Surrey, England - Plot IV, Row J, Grave No. 7 - and he was "accorded a full military funeral".
The report lists a Private Atherton, from the 4th Machine Gun Battalion, as either a relative or a friend, along with a Miss and a Mrs. Atherton, who all attended the funeral. I found that particularly interesting as it seems to indicate that Ernest had family or perhaps a close friend over in England and probably spent his leave with them. I suppose they visited him in hospital as well. I do hope so. It would be so comforting to think Ernest was not on his own when he was so gravely ill.
The information from the burial report then became the content of a letter that was sent to Ernest's mother on May 29th, 1919.
I do wonder if Mary Ann ever received a photo of Ernest's headstone.
In August of 1919 yet another telegram was sent to Ernest's mother, Mary Ann, informing her that she would be receiving a parcel of her son's personal effects.
This is the list of what would have arrived in that parcel.
The following In Memoriam item appeared in the newspaper, The Byron Bay Record, on the 22nd of March 1919.
A Roll of Honour item appeared in the newspaper, The Northern Star, on the 21st of March 1919.
Each evening between sunset and sunrise, names from the Australian War Memorial's Roll of Honour are projected onto the facade of the Hall of Memory (the dome) at our Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
This Roll of Honour lists the 102,000 men and women from Australia's defence forces who have died in the service of our nation and Ernest's name will appear on these dates:
One of these days I would love to be there to see the name of a relative highlighted and acknowledged in this way!
Special Note to any family members: If you have memories to add, photos or information to share, can I graciously ask that you do so. Please use the comments box below or email me. It may prove to be invaluable to the story and provide future generations with something to truly treasure.
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