Descendants of Mr Tucker, Jane Endacott and Jack Smith, visited the cenotaph on Anzac Day to lay a wreath and honour a man that they describe as a larrikin and well-loved Carcoar local.

“Spencer is my great uncle and Jack’s uncle and he was born in Carcoar on the 9^th of December 1893 to Mary Hawkin and Alfred Tucker,” she said.

“He was one of eight children growing up on Box Hill and a lot of people in Carcoar would remember his siblings, Lawson Tucker, Mamie Stammers and Kath and Kelso Tucker.”

Tucker’s career in the army began when he enlisted on the 14^th of January 1916 and although he registered as a labourer, it was his membership of the Carcoar Rifle club that led him to sign up for what was called Carmichael’s Thousand.

“Carmichael was a politician who directly recruited men from the rural rifle clubs of NSW, so when he wandered into the recruitment office in Liverpool with a letter from Captain Young at the Carcoar Rifle Club, he was quickly processed,” Mrs Smith said.

Tucker was such a crack shot with the rifle that he was offered a role training new recruits in Australia, but he was determined to honour his obligation and refused to stay in Australia while his new friends risked their lives in another country.

Private Tucker reached France on the 22^nd of November 1916 as part of the 36^th Australian Infantry Battalion.

Mr Smith said that Tucker primarily acted as a sniper on the front lines of both France and Belgium.

“One aim of a sniper is to take out the enemy’s snipers as they were responsible for mass casualties and the overall performance of the infantry,” he said.

“As such, it was unfortunate that while sitting on a parapet in a quiet sector of the front line in Belgium, that Spencer was shot through the head by an opposing sniper, dying instantaneously at the tragic age of 23.”

He is buried in Wallonie, Belgium.