Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey, GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED was an Australian general of the First and Second World Wars. During the First World War he participated in the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, and served as a staff officer in the Gallipoli Campaign. He distinguished himself in the planning for the Battle of Pozières. He commanded the Second Australian Imperial Force and the I Corps in the Middle East during the Second World War. He signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on behalf of Australia at Japan’s ceremonial surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. In 1950 he became the first Australian to be promoted toField Marshal.
About Thomas Blamey in brief
Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey, GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED was an Australian general of the First and Second World Wars. He was the only Australian to attain the rank of field marshal. During the First World War he participated in the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, and served as a staff officer in the Gallipoli Campaign. He later served on the Western Front, where he distinguished himself in the planning for the Battle of Pozières. He commanded the Second Australian Imperial Force and the I Corps in the Middle East during the Second World War. He signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on behalf of Australia at Japan’s ceremonial surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, and later personally accepted the Japanese surrender at Morotai on 9 September. After the war he was Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and was involved in the creation of the Royal Australian Air Force. He resigned from the regular Army in 1925 to become Chief Commissioner of the Victoria Police, but remained in the Militia, rising to command the 3rd Division in 1931. In 1938 he headed a successful recruiting campaign which doubled the size of the part-time volunteer Militia. In 1950 he became the first Australian to be promoted toField Marshal. He died in Melbourne in 1963, aged 80. He is buried at the Royal Military Cemetery in Melbourne. He had a son, Peter, who was a former Australian Army officer. He also had a daughter, Julie, who became a teacher and later a judge.
BlameY was the son of Richard Blameys, a farmer who had emigrated from Cornwall at the age of 16 in 1862, and his Australian-born wife, Margaret. He was raised in Lake Albert, near Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. He began his working life in 1899 as a trainee school at Lake Albert Public School. In 1903 he moved to Western Australia, and in 1903 moved to Fremantle, South Australia. In 1906 he was offered an appointment as an associate minister in Western Australia by the Church of Australia. He coached the rifle shooting team at Western Australia Cadet School. By early 1906 he saw a new opportunity in the Australian Military Forces, and became a lay preacher and lay preacher. In 1913 he was appointed as the Chief of Staff of the Australian Cadet Staff. In 1914 he was promoted to the post of Cadet Superintendent. In 1916 he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia for his services to the armed forces. In 1918 he was awarded the Australian Order of Merit for his service in the FirstWorld War. In 1921 he was given the Australian Medal of Honour for his part in the Battle of Amiens. In 1925 he became chief commissioner of the Victorian Police. His tenure as chief commissioner was marred by a scandal in which his police badge was found in a brothel, and a later attempt to cover up the shooting of a police officer led to his forced resignation in 1936.
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