Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout, Australia and NZ in WWI

Today,it is under the resplendent sky and in the serene silence of the Somme that I would like to honor with gratitude, love and respect, the memory of one of my boys of the Somme who rests in peace on flowered and peaceful grounds of the old battlefields which still today are the silent and eternal testimonies of hell that all these boys went through. I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Lance Corporal number 3875 John Albert McDonnell who fought in the 6th Australian Infantry Battalion who was killed in action 104 years ago, on August 19, 1916 at the age of 20 on the Somme front.

John Albert McDonnell was born in 1897 in Illabo, New South Wales and was the son of John and Muriel McDonnel and he was married to Wilhelmina McDonnell and lived in Townsend Street, Albury, New South Wales.Before the outbreak of the war, he worked as a clerk in Albury and he performed his pre-war compulsory cadet service with 44 Battalion in country,New South Wales.

Enlisted as Private on July 28, 1915 in Melbourne, Victoria at the age of 19 in the 6th Australian Infantry Battalion, 12th Reinforcement, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne, on board HMAT A40 Ceramic on November 23, 1915 and sailed for Egypt where he arrived too late to fight in Gallipoli and was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal at Serapeum on March 19, 1916 then joined the British Expeditionary Force on March 26, 1916 in Alexandria and embarked with the 6th Australian Infantry Battalion for France and was disembarked in Marseilles a few days later, on April 2, 1916.

After arriving in Marseilles, John and his battalion were sent to the battlefields of the Somme and they faced the hell of the Battle of Pozieres which was the first major engagement of the Australian army in the Somme and during which more than 20,000 young Australians were killed, wounded or missing, unfortunately, while in the Mouquet Farm area, better known to Australian soldiers as the "Moo Cow Farm",on August 19, 1916, John received a machine gun bullet in the abdomen and was evacuated to 1/1 South Midland Casualty Clearing Station "in the field", but sadly John died of his wounds the same day, he was 20 years old.

Today, Lance Corporal John Albert McDonnell rests in peace with his comrades and brothers in arms, all united in peace at Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery, Extension, Somme.

John, Sir, it is with deep gratitude that I write to say thank you, on your grave is engraved for eternity the name of a brave young man who gave his today, his courage and the determination of a whole country for our freedom, in front of your grave I kneel and I pray, for you and for all the young men who rest here, in the fields and peaceful cemeteries, under the shade of the sun and the poppies which remind us at every moment that another generation stood here with courage and pride over a hundred years ago and who faced the death and fury of the battlefields that we can only imagine when we walk here, on the old trenches in which so many of young men like you fell under a rain of bullets which, like an endless torrent, shattered so many lives and families who hoped for your return but who had only in their hearts and in their homes an empty place.Today, it is with great emotion and pride that your families come here to pay respectful tribute to all of you and I cannot help shedding tears when I see the Australian and French families side by side,united in the same emotion and the same respect to tell you that we never forget you, families who become friends and who share together and I am sure that today, John, you would be happy and proud to see that thanks to you , people who did not know each other before make such strong bonds and that together we protect the peace and the flame of Remembrance that we will also pass on to the following generations John, you bravely did your duty and you did more that a man can do, not only for his country or for his family but also for the whole world, your sacrifice was not in vain because thanks to you and to all your brothers in arms who fought and who fell here, today we are fortunate enough to live in a world at peace and i never forget that you fell so that i could live today and i would always do my best to prove myself worthy of you and your comrades that we will always honor rs with the utmost respect.Thank you with all my heart John your place will always be in my heart and thoughts and your name just as your story will live on forever.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.