Ann-Maree Crowe – Port Central Marketing Team Member holding a photo of her Grandfather: Thomas (Tom) Cooper, WW1.
Thomas (Tom) Cooper received an Honorable Discharge on 4 May 1918 due to a disability received at war. He was born in 1877 and died aged 88 in 1965 in Young NSW. He was with the 6th Australian Light Horse and received 2 Medals, the Service Medal and African Star.
Tom was an orchardist in the Young District of NSW and had a daughter Joyce, (Ann-Maree’s mother) and a son Mervyn Cooper. Tom Cooper’s great, great Grandson’s Christian name is also Cooper.
Tom Cooper gave his medals to his 6 year old daughter (Ann-Maree’s mother)to play with as he had no respect for War and did not want to discuss it at all. His daughter (Ann-Maree’s mother) thought the ribbons were so pretty she cut them off and put them on her dolls. Hence, we now have the medals without the ribbon. My memory of my grandfather was in the nursing home in Young in a wheelchair although this was from old age not a war injury. He was also blind at that point, again, not from a war injury but glaucoma.
It is hard to comprehend what these men went through to ensure we have the life we do.
