Harry Lucas was 26 years old and working as a Clerk and was raised in the Church of England. His father was Samuel Lucas and he was living at Marion Street, Parramatta. Both he and his brother Alfred (service number 3381) were members of the Parramatta Foresters’ Lodge.
He enlisted on 18 July 1915 in the 20 Infantry Battalion, 5 reinforcements. Embarking on 6th September 1915 aboard HMAT Ballarat A70 from Sydney to Plymouth, England, where he wrote home saying he was having a ‘rattling good time’. After 3 months he was invalided home from Suez, Egypt after contracting enteric (typhoid fever).
Upon his recovery, he ‘dauntlessly signified his willingness to set forth again to fight the Huns’ and so set sailed for the second time with the 14 Reinforcements on 22 August 1916 aboard HMAT Wiltshire A18 in Sydney. He was seriously injured and returned to Australia in February 1918. His brother Alfred who was previously missing was later found to have been killed in action on 5 November 1916.