Lieutenant Thomas Leonard Cadell, 3rd Australian Infantry Battalion

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Lieutenant Thomas Leonard Cadell, 3rd Australian Infantry Battalion

Australian War Memorial

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Thomas Cadell was born on 7 December 1896 in Goulburn, New South Wales. Known as “Tom”, he was the only child born to bank manager John Cadell and his wife Mary. Tom received his early education at Sydney Preparatory School and later attended Maitland and Newcastle High Schools. He was known as a sportsman with a particular talent for rugby league, and an active member of the senior cadets, holding the rank of lieutenant.

Tom Cadell was 17 years old when the First World War broke out in August 1914. He volunteered for active service immediately, giving his age as 19, and claiming to be a student at military college. In September, he applied for a commission in the Australian Imperial Force, which was granted. He was allocated to the 3rd Battalion with the rank of second lieutenant, before beginning a short period of training. He embarked for active service on 20 October 1914, sailing from Sydney on the troopship Euripides.

After several weeks at sea, Cadell arrived in Egypt. He spent his 18th birthday just outside Cairo, training with his unit in preparation for an attack on enemy positions at a place called Gallipoli. Cadell was promoted, rising to the rank of lieutenant.

Plans for the attack on Gallipoli were set in motion in early April 1915, when allied forces began making their way towards the Dardanelles. They began landing on the beaches of Gallipoli in the early hours of the morning on 25 April, going ashore in waves. Cadell’s unit, the 3rd Battalion, was to form parts of the second and third waves of the attack. He described the moment in a letter home to his father:

“We began landing at 4 a.m. The brigade that landed first jumped out of the boats and into water up to their waists and charged the Turks with their bayonets. My brigade landed at about 6 a.m., first into destroyers, and then into rowing boats, and then on the beach. It was wonderful how we got ashore under shell fire. Then we gathered together as many of the battalion were left and went straight up to reinforce the fighting.”

Shortly after making it ashore, Cadell’s right hand was wounded. Regardless, he decided to remain ashore with his men, and spent several days helping consolidate the ground taken. Despite hoping to remain ashore, he was evacuated from the peninsula and taken to hospital in Cairo for treatment. Here he wrote to his father:

“When I was in the trenches, we had eight machines not far away, and the noise of them and the guns and rifles made me quite deaf. I have only just got back my proper hearing. For two days the Turks were firing shells at our machine guns near me, and of course the whole time shells were bursting over us. One shell hit the ground so close in front that it lifted everyone in the trench about a foot, but not one of us was hit.”

Cadell re-joined his unit on Gallipoli at the end of May 1915. By this time, the fighting began to descend into stalemate. Allied forces had failed to make all of their objectives after the initial landing, while a strong enemy counter attack had failed to push the Anzacs off the peninsula. Cadell’s first weeks back on Gallipoli were spent holding and defending his battalion’s position.

On 21 June 1915, Cadell’s unit was in the front lines firing a mortar on enemy trenches near Lone Pine. During the attack, Cadell was hit by gunfire from Turkish lines. Suffering a severe wound to his abdomen, Cadell was immediately evacuated for treatment, boarding the hospital ship Gascon that afternoon. His condition continued to worsen, however, and before 2 pm on 22 June 1915, he died on board the ship. He was buried at sea the following day.

The local community in Newcastle mourned Cadell’s death, writing of him in the newspaper:

“The deceased lad was highly popular with everybody who had the pleasure of knowing him. Besides being a thorough little gentleman, he was an athlete of no mean order. Had he been spared to return safe and sound, he would have probably made a name for himself in Rugby Union football. However, he has now made a greater name than ever sport could have given him.” 

Lieutenant Thomas Cadell was 18 years old.

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