Leonard Cuthbert Lucas

Brigadier Leonard Cuthbert Lucas, (6 November 1894 – 3 September 1978), was an Australian architect, public servant, and army officer. During the First World War, he served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. During the Second World War, he served with the 6th Division in Libya, Greece and Ceylon and was Deputy Engineer-in-Chief at Advanced Land Headquarters, South West Pacific Area. After the war, he was in charge of the construction effort supporting the Operation Totem British nuclear weapons tests in Australia in 1953.

Early life Leonard Cuthbert Lucas was born in Townsville, Queensland, on 6 November 1894, the son of Robert Lucas, a sawmill manager, and his wife, Thomasina Cuthbert. He attended a state school in Charters Towers, where he served in the Senior Cadets. He then worked as a sugar cane cutter and then a journalist, and studied engineering at the local school of mines. He joined the 2nd Infantry (Kennedy Regiment) on 1 July 1912, and was promoted to corporal and then sergeant the following year. On 24 September 1913, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

First World War On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the Kennedy Regiment was dispatched to Thursday Island. He returned to the mainland, where he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as a signaller in Sydney on 9 March 1915 and joined the 18th Battalion on 21 June 1915. He was promoted to sergeant on 25 June, the day on which the 18th Battalion embarked for Egypt on the troop ship . He served at Gallipoli, where he was wounded by a gun shot in the arm, and evacuated to hospital on Mudros. He returned to his unit on 28 September, but was hospitalised with jaundice on 13 October and evacuated, this time to Malta. and awarded the Military Cross on 18 July 1917. His citation read:

Lucas was wounded in the legs and feet by shell fragments on 5 November 1917, and was evacuated to England, where he was treated at the 3rd London General Hospital in Wandsworth. He returned to duty with the 2nd Division Signal on 11 April 1918. He was promoted to captain on 14 June 1918. His citation read:Commanded Engineers, 6 Aust Div throughout the Cyrenaica Campaign from the opening engagement at Bardia to the final defeat of the enemy on February 7th. Under his direction the engineers have done most valuable work of every conceivable kind, from breaching enemy wire, removing roads, railways, power and water installations. The work of the engineers under Lt Col Lucas contributed very materially to the success of the attacks and the rapidity of the pursuit. He retired in 1957.

Lucas died in St Leonards, New South Wales, on 3 September 1978, and his remains were cremated. He was survived by his daughter and one of his two sons.

List of honours