Lieutenant Themetre J. Hammond

Name Themetre James Hammond Date of Birth 1893 Place of Birth Sydney, NSW, Australia Occupation Grazier Date of Enlistment - Place of Enlistment Adavale, Queensland, Australia Flying Unit 2 Sqn AFC Previous Unit Lighthorse Service Australian Flying Corps Theatres France AIF Rank Lieutenant Awards - Victories 1 Nickname - AIF Fate Killed In Action Date of AIF Fate 12th June 1918 Final Rank Lieutenant Date of Death 12th June 1918 Place of Death Noyon Cause of Death Combat Notes -

Themetre James Hammond was born in 1893, in Sydney and at the outbreak of hostilities was a Grazier in Adavale, Queensland. After serving with the Lighthorse he transferred to the Australian Flying Corps and after training served with 2 Squadron AFC, joining the squadron on 24th of May 1918. Unfortunately Hammond wasnt to be with the squadron for long, being killed in combat just over a month later, after scoring a Destroyed victory and after 12.35 hours of flying time with the squadron.

The end of May was dominated by bad weather, so bad that in the Armienteres region 2 Squadron AFC was based in, there was little to no flying, and any flying that was done, was practise flying only. This also disrupted the tactics that 2 Squadron AFC had been using, mimicing the German Circus formations, or stacked formations where mixed Squadrons of machines flew at differant altitudes and forced attacking aircraft into the lower layers where they could be outnumbered.

By the beginning of June, the weather cleared and German Army resumed an offensive in the Somme region. As German Aviation strength followed the ground offensives, 2 Squadron AFC starting seeing constant combat in the air as the density of allied and German aircraft increased to match the activity on the ground. Hammond, new to the squadron flew in this environment through early June until on the 11th he scored his first victory over a two-seater, and unfortunately the next morning, he fell to the same fate. The Official History describes June 11th and 12th;

"In the afternoon of the June 11th five machine under Forrest brought six enemy two-seaters to an engagement over Curvilly. Lieutenant T.J. Hammond destroyed one of them. Soon after dawn next morning Hammond was himself shot down and killed near Noyon in a fight with the circus against eight Pfalz Scouts and four Fokker Triplanes. Two Pfalzes having dived on a Camel of the second deck of the circus, Manuel, leading the SE5a's promptly attacked one and set it on fire. In the general engagement which followed Hammond was killed, but three enemy machines were shot down by the Camels, two of them in flames."

It is possible the Camels were from 73 Sqn RAF, who were operating in the area at the time and made three claims for 10.00 AM on the morning of June 12th. Hammond was shot down in SE5a, D3960 by Hans Martin Pippart of Jasta 19, it was Pippart's 15th victory. Pippart himself was killed near Noyon less than two months later. Hammond's memorial is at the Arras Flying Services Memorial, Pas de Calais, France

"Casualties of the German Air Service" lists three casualties suffered by the German Air Service in the region of Compiegne. They are Uffz Albert Arnold, Gefr Erich Bischoff and Uffz Walter Held are listed as KIA, but there is not record of a unit.

Name Themetre James Hammond Number - Rank Lieutenant Aircraft SE5a Squadron 2 Squadron Unit Australian Flying Corps Service Army, Australian Imperial Force Conflict 1914 - 1918 Date of Death 12th June 1918 Cause of Death Killed In Action Memorial Panel Memorial Details 26 Villers Bretonneux. France Next of Kin - Enlistment Adavale, Queensland Source AWM 145 Roll of Honour cards, 1914-1918 War, Army. Commonwealth War Graves Roll of Honour Card. Notes -

Lest We Forget

Roll of Honour information from the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour Card entry for Hammond's memorial location. Commonwealth War Graves Commision Commemerative Roll entry for Hammond's memorial location. Description of the Arras Flying Services Memorial, Pas de Calais, France from the Commonwealth War Graves Commision, "The Arras Flying Services Memorial will be found in the Faubourg-d'Amiens Cemetery, which is in the Boulevard du General de Gaulle in the western part of the town of Arras. The cemetery is near the Citadel, approximately 2 kilometres due west of the railway station. The Arras Memorial, designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, is a cloister, 25 feet high and 380 feet long, built up on Doric columns, and faces west. In the broader part of the site the colonnade returns to form a recessed and open court, terminated by an apse, and in front of the apse is the Arras Flying Services Memorial. The names of the casualties are carved on stone panels fixed to the cloister walls or the Flying Services Memorial. The Arras Flying Services Memorial commemorates casualties of the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force, either by attachment from other arms of the forces of the Commonwealth or by original enlistment, who fell on the whole Western Front and who have no known grave."

The portrait of Themetre Hammond courtesy of Gina Hammond.