Thomas Henry Herket (b. 1894, New Zealand, d 1942 on Montevideo Maru) was working as a driver when he enlisted in Sydney on 10 August 1915. He was part of the 11th Reinforcements to the 2nd Battalion and was later attached to the 53rd Battalion. By mid-1916 he was serving on the Western Front in the Battle of Fromelles. On 20 July Herket was wounded and taken a POW at Fleur Baix, Armentieries, and interned in a German POW camp at Festings-Lazaretti. He underwent 10 operations on his wounded right ankle during his captivity and in January 1918 was transferred to Holland before being sent to England. On returning to Australia, Herket settled in Sydney.
Following the war Herket worked on and off as an accountant on several NSW pastoral properties before applying for work in 1939 with the Department of Treasury as an agriculture agent for the Australian Government in New Guinea. Tom Herket is listed as one of the 209 civilians who were killed on the Montevideo Maru when this Japanese ship was sunk by an American submarine on 1 July 1942. (Sources : Australian War Memorial records).
Many of the civilians who died on the Montevideo Maru in 1942 served during WWI. There is a portrait of Tom Herket in the First World War Gallery: Western Front 1916. The drawing, charcoal and pastel over pencil on paper, was done by Hilda Rix Nicholas, probably around 1920 when Nicholas was living in Mosman, Sydney.
If you are a relative of Thomas Herket could you please email .