Thomas Ward was the son of Edmund and Ruth Ward and a sawmill hand at the Southbridge Timber Company in Canterbury before enlisting on the 5 October 1916. He embarked from Wellington on the 21 June 1917 aboard the 'Ulimaroa' arriving in Plymouth on the 22 March 1917.
On the 28 August 1917 Thomas was wounded with a gun shot wound to the chest and stayed out of the action for over a year. Once recovered he was sent back into the field in France on the 7 October 1918 attached to the 1st Canterbury. With the war drawing to a close the Thomas Ward took part in the relief of Quesnoy and on the 5 November 1918 after the town had been liberated he was killed in action at the Mormal Forest where the 1st Canterbury had been given instructions to capture the Forrester's House being held by the Germans. Thomas aged 30 had almost made it till the end of the war. It is bittersweet also to now know that the 5 November 1918 was in fact the day that the Canterbury Regiments 's active war came to a close.
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