Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Charles William and Ellen Elizabeth Towner, of Pyke St., Baimsdale, Victoria

Lce.-CpI. Martin J. Towner, a son of Mr and Mrs C.W. Towner, Bairnsdale, was killed in France on the 15th February. He enlisted at Bairnsdale in July, 1915, and sailed two months later. He saw service in Egypt before going to France. He was a native of Marlo, near Orbost, 25 years of age and single.

From François Berthout

LCpl 2908 Martin John Towner,
5th Australian Infantry Battalion,
2nd Brigade, 1st Australian Division
 
In the green grasses of the old battlefields of the Somme, millions of red poppies grow between which stand, solemn and eternal, the white graves of thousands of young men who rest in peace where they fought and fell more than a hundred years ago into what was for them, hell on earth, an endless nightmare in which they gave their youth alongside their brothers in arms who stood bravely in the trenches, in the mud and who, side by side, under fire and barbed wire gave their lives for the peace and freedom in which we live and in which we will always honor the memory of these young boys with respect and love so that their story remains forever in our hearts and so that their names and their faces live forever.

Today, it is with the utmost respect that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who, for our tomorrow, for his country and for France paid the supreme sacrifice. I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Lance Corporal number 2908 Martin John Towner who fought in the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Australian Division, and who was killed in action 106 years ago, on February 15, 1917 at the age of 24 on the Somme front.

Martin John Towner was born in 1892 in Marlo, Victoria, Australia, and was the son of William and Ellen Elizabeth Towner, of Pyke Street, Bairnsdale, Victoria. Before the outbreak of the war, Martin worked as a labourer and lived in Nicholson Street, Bairnsdale.

Martin enlisted on June 30, 1915 in Melbourne, Victoria, as a Private in the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion, 9th Reinforcement, battalion which was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel David Stanley Wanliss and after a training period of two months in Victoria, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne, on board HMAT A16 Star Of Victoria on September 10, 1915 and sailed for Egypt.

On January 7, 1916, Martin was disembarked in Egypt and was taken on strength at Tel-El-Kebir and with the 5th Battalion fought for the defense of the Suez Canal then embarked from Alexandria, on board "City Of Chester" on March 25, and proceeded overseas for France.

After a quick and peaceful journey on the Mediterranean Sea, Martin arrived in France and was disembarked in Marseilles on March 31, 1916 then was transferred to the Grenadier Platoon of the 5th Battalion on April 19 at Fort Rompu then were sent to Fleurbaix on May 1 and where he fell ill the following month,on June 6, 1916 and was admitted the same day to the Field Ambulance of the 5th Battalion then evacuated to the 7th General Hospital of St Omer suffering from mumps. On June 27, he was transferred to the 4th Stationary Hospital of Arques, this time suffering from dental caries and joined his unit in France, in the La Grande Monque sector and on July 12, were sent to the Somme, at Doullens.

After arriving at Doullens on July 12, 1916, Martin and the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion marched through Flesselles, Cardonnette, and arrived at their billet at Lealvillers on July 15, where they remained until July 20 and on July 25, entered the trenches of Pozieres which was the first major engagement, not only for the 5th Battalion, but for all the AIF in the Somme which lost approximately 23,000 men in less than seven weeks of furious fighting.

Unfortunately, on July 25, 1916, at 2:00am, after an intense artillery bombardment, Martin and the men of the 5th Battalion charged through the no man's land of Pozieres and captured the OG1 trench and portions of enemy communications trenches and then captured the OG2 trench but during a very strong German counterattack who retook OG2, Martin was wounded by a gunshot wound to his face and shoulder. During this attack, the battalion lost 139 men who were killed in action, 248 were wounded , including Martin and 159 were reported missing.

The day after the attack on OG1 and OG2, Martin was evacuated to the 3rd Stationary Hospital in Rouen then to England, on board "HS Aberdonian", was admitted to Harefield Hospital on August 5, 1916 suffering from a bomb wound on his back and after Having recovered, he joined the 2nd Training Battalion at Perham Down, Wiltshire, on August 11 and the following month, on September 5, he proceeded overseas to France and was disembarked at Etaples on September 6.

At Etaples, Martin joined the 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot and proceeded to the front on September 16 and joined the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion at Ypres, was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal on October 14 at "Halifax Camp", near Steenvorde and was again sent to the Somme, to Dernancourt on October 24, in one of the harshest winters that the region has known and on November 4, was admitted to the 2nd Field Ambulance suffering from trench feet then to the 38th Casualty Clearing Station , transferred to the 3rd Stationary Hospital on November 6 and to the 2nd Convalescent Depot on November 9.

On November 17, 1916, after recovering, Martin joined the 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot at Etaples and rejoined his unit on December 1, again in the Somme, at "Melbourne Camp" where they remained until January 13, 1917 and marched for their billetss at Warloy-baillon. On January 21 they left Warloy-Baillon and reached Albert on January 23 then High Wood West on January 25, Millencourt on February 1 for a period of instruction in Gas School which ended on February 5.

On February 12, 1917, Martin and the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion entered the front line trenches at Flers and relieved the 6th Australian Infantry Battalion in a position known as "Factory Corner" where unfortunately, three days later, on February 15, 1917, Martin met his fate and as he was on his way to take up his post, a shell fell near him and was killed almost instantly.

Private Brose who was with him at the time said that one of the last things he had said was to tell the Commanding Officer he was wounded and would be unable to do his post for the night.

After Martin's death, his Commanding Officer wrote a few words for his parents in a letter which reads as follows:
"Towner was admired by the others in his platoon for his good nature and straight living and that he was always ready for the call of duty. Everyone had a good word to say for him and they regarded his loss as that of a brother."

Today, Lance Corporal Martin John Towner rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Bazentin-Le-Petit Military Cemetery, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "He fought the good fight ,sadly missed,beloved by all."

Martin, it is at the dawn of a life full of hopes, of promises that for your country you responded with courage to the call of duty to join the ranks of men united under the rising sun of Australia and who, together guided by their convictions, marched towards the battlefields of the great war and an uncertain future but side by side and full of will, alongside their best mates and their brothers, followed the song of bagpipes and drums which echoed on the roads of northern France where a whole generation of young men gathered to do their duty in the name of peace and freedom who guided their steps through the poppies and entered the sinister hell of the trenches where they saw the death and the sufferings which swept away the innocence of these men who wanted, who thought that they would live the greatest adventure of their lives but in the mud of the Somme, under the hurricanes of fire and steel, they saw waves of men who were pulverized in a few seconds under the shrapnel and rains of bullets, they saw their comrades who suffocated under the poison gas and who, powerless, agonized in the shell holes, they discovered the darkness and the fear which reigned over these fields of death which were constantly pounded and which little by little became open-air cemeteries where young boys killed each other in hand-to-hand combat and which ended in unimaginable bloodbaths such as Pozieres, Flers, Amiens and Villers-Bretonneux, execution fields where so many Diggers fell and where the Australian flag floats with pride and honor watching over the thousands of them who did not have the chance to return home.Brave and proud, they came to France to bring hope and peace and fought with exceptional bravery alongside their French brothers in arms who saw in them the bravest men they had ever seen, and in this hell, a very strong friendship was born between them, a bond that nothing has ever broken and a love, a deep respect for our two countries, an admiration that still lives today in the hearts of the French people who owe so much to these young men and who will always watch over them like our sons, our loved ones who in the trenches and the barbed wire, gave their lives so that we could have a better world without fear of tomorrow while they lived for four years with every day the afraid of never seeing the sun rise and waited near their comrades for the signal, the whistle to go over the top knowing that each step forward could be the last in this world but they never backed down,none of them stayed behind and charged shoulder to shoulder with bayonets forward towards the enemy trenches, running, staggering and falling through the mud and shell craters, bent in the face of deadly machine gun fire they went ever further under the weak protection of their steel helmets and prayed to god to survive and return to their mothers and wives, to find the love of their families, who, for many, in tears of pain, received the terrible news informing them in a few cold lines that their sons, their husbands, their men were killed in action doing their duty for their country and many did not have the consolation of tender words nor to be able to go to the graves of their brave men but today, I would like to say to their families and their relatives that I will always watch over the graves and the memory of all these heroes and that I will always put all my heart and my energy, my life so that theirs are never forgotten, so that they may forever stand proud behind the rows of their white graves beyond which their names and faces will live forever. Thank you so much Martin, for everything. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.