Tom Skeyhill (1895–1932) - Australian poet and writer

With thanks to Discover War Poets

Thomas John Skeyhill was born in 1895 in Terang, Victoria. Australia..  His parents were Annie and James Percy Skeyhill.  

Tom enlisted in the 8th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force and served as a Signaller in the First World War. On 8th May 1915, during the advance at Cape Helles, Tom was blinded by an exploding Turkish shell; his sight was successfully restored in 1918. 

Tom ghostwrote an account about Alvin York*, which was later made into a film of the same name in 1941.  He was killed in a plane crash at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, USA and was buried with military honours in West Dennis, Massachusetts, where he had a summer home.

Here is one of his poems:

“Halt! Thy tread is on heroes' graves

Australian lads lie sleeping below:

Just rough wooden crosses at their heads

To let their comrades know.

They'd sleep no better for marble slabs,

Nor monuments so grand

They lie content, now their day is done

In that far-off foreign land.” 

Tom Skeyhill

NOTE:

*Alvin York was a celebrated American hero of the First World War, immortalized by the film version of his life story – “Sergeant York” (1941).

Sources Discover War Poets via X and Facebook

https://pennyspoetry.fandom.com/wiki/Tom_Skeyhill

https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/journals/id/16710/