GRIFFITHS, Norman Lance Guy

Private (Pte) Norman Lance Griffiths, aka Tasman Lance Guy Griffiths, 8th Australian Light Horse Regiment, of East Melbourne, Vic. Pte, Griffiths enlisted on 5 July 1915. His uncle, Arthur Griffith, as his legal guardian,gave his permission for the boy to join up. He had attempted to enlist once before, but his height, only 5' 2", probaby led to his rejection. This may have happened at Launceston in Tasmania and led to his change of name, from Norman to Tasman. A Tasman Griffiths had been born in 1851 in Lanuceston and it is possible that Norman was his son. By trade, he was a factory hand, Roman Catholic by religion, had a sallow skin, brown hair and eyes. However, his acceptance as a trooper with the Light Horse suggests he had a farming background.

 He embarked on HMAT Hawkes Bay on 21 October 1915, and reported for duty at Heliopolis on 29 February, 1916, where he fell ill. From then on, he seems to have been almost continuously ill. First he was sent to Serapeum for an unidentified illness, then to Kantara for dental treatment for caries (holes) in his teeth. he was again sick in hospital with debility on 20 June 1917, returned to his regiment and was struck down with appendicitis on 22 July 1917. He remained with the Light Horse until the end of the war and was discharged on 3 August 1919, returning to Australia on board the HT Dorset. He later joined the RSL receiving badge number 4097.