SERVICE PERSON RESEARCH
SERVICE PERSON DETAILS
Service Person’s
Name
Rank
Service Number
Regiment/Unit or
Ship or Squadron
Cecil James Marson
Trooper
347
2nd Australian Light Horse Regiment
Date of Birth
June 1895
Place of Birth
Hull, England
Family Details
Son of Annie Marson of D’Arcy St, Mount Morgan, Queensland and the late
George Robert Marson (Born Lancaster, England)
Age at Enlistment
Place of Enlistment
19
Not known but date of enlistment is 20 August 1914
Date of Death
Saturday, 7 August 1915
Place of Death
Gallipoli Peninsular
Cemetery or
Memorial Name
Grave or Memorial
Number
Gallipoli, Quinn’s Post Cemetery
Grave Reference: Sp. Mem.46
PHOTO:
Mount Morgan, Queensland
August 1914
Outdoor group portrait titled the 'Mount Morgan
Members 2nd Light Horse'. Identified are back row
standing, left to right: 350 Private (Pte) Charles A
Mowbray; 274 Sergeant (Sgt) Ernest William Crain; 394
Pte Walter Henry Thompson. Kneeling: 330 Pte
Frederick Herbert Francis Hart; 390 Pte Thomas James
Stacey; 348 Pte William George Moren (killed in action
29 June 1915); 322 Pte Percy Ussher Gooch. Seated: 23
Pte Parker Marson; 389 Trumpeter Stanley E Simmonds;
347 Pte Cecil James Marson (killed in action 7 August
1915).
Source: Australian War Memorial, P09471.001,
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P09471.001/
(Accessed 15 February 2015)
Source: 2nd Light Horse Regiment AIF Album, Cecil James Marson, http://alhresearch.tripod.com/2nd_light_horse_regiment_aif/index.album/347-private-cecil-james-marson?i=49&s=1
(accessed 20 February 2015)
SERVICE PERSON’S STORY/EULOGY:
Prepared by Maddison Veivers
We are not related. We don’t share the same blood and we have never even met. But it is your sacrifice
that is the reason for why I am here today and for that, I thank you.
Your records are short. Who knows if anyone has even visited your grave. To many, you may just be a
number, but today, I am here to tell people your story and your significance to their lives.
You enlisted at just 19 years of age. That’s just a few years older than some of us here today. I wonder how
that would have felt - to be young and to leave home, not knowing if you would ever return.
On 9 May 1915 you proceeded to join the Military Expeditionary Force in Gallipoli. When you fell ill on the
2 July 1915, you were taken to a hospital in Mudros, on a Greek island, not far from the Dardanelles. I
wonder how that would have felt. Were you scared or frightened? Were you thinking of your family back
home - your mum, Annie and your dad, George?
Not long after, on the 16th, you returned to duty at the Gallipoli Peninsular in the 2nd Light Horse Regiment.
I wonder how that would have felt. Were you petrified? Did you have any idea of the impact that you
would have on all Australian lives? Were you proud of yourself?
It saddens me that on 7 August 1915, only a few months after your 20th birthday, you were killed in action.
Were you in pain or was it instant? Did anyone come to your aid?
That’s it. Your life. I may not be able to tell everyone about your personality, your childhood, your hobbies,
likes and dislikes, but I can prove to them why I have such admiration for you. Your courage, bravery and
determination are the reasons why I can stand here today, the reason why I can call Australia my home.
These may sound like stereotypical characteristics of a trooper, but there really is no better way of stating
the truth. Cecil James Marson, I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done for me.
“Your life was a blessing, your memory a treasure, you are loved beyond words and missed beyond
measure.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
2nd Light Horse Regiment AIF Album, Cecil James Marson, http://alhresearch.tripod.com/2nd_light_horse_regiment_aif/index.album/347-private-cecil-james-marson?i=49&s=1
(Accessed 20 February 2015)
Australian War Memorial, P09471.001, http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P09471.001/
(Accessed 15 February 2015)
National Archives of Australia, NAA:B2455, Marson Cecil James,
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=11552850
(Accessed 15 February 2015)