Hector Holmes Service No. 3555 – POW

In November 1917, in the midst of the Great War, newspapers nationwide carried the heartening news of two Australian escapees from a German prison camp.  One of these combatants was Henry Lamert Thomas; the other was Hector Holmes.¹

Hector was born in NSW in September 1893 and enlisted in the AIF in September 1915, just shy of his twenty third birthday.  Initially lady luck favoured Hector, but, on the morning of 20 July 1916, whilst fighting in the trenches in France, Hector was captured and taken to a prisoner of war camp in Germany.²

During his captivity he became dangerously ill and, being too weak to withstand the use of chloroform, underwent an emergency operation with minimal pain relief.   He then spent four months in hospital before being discharged to work in a tar distillery.³ It was from this factory, on the 26 October 1917, that he and Henry escaped and, travelling by night, made their way to Holland, and thence to England. He was awarded the Military Medal for his daring escape.⁴

In 1920 Hector and his brother, William, purchased adjoining blocks of land in Cornwall Street, Taree  on which are built two modest timber cottages.⁵ Hector did not stay long in the Manning, but married and became a poultry farmer in the Wallsend (Newcastle) region.⁶ He died at Boolaroo in 1966.⁷

Author: Penny Teerman