Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout

Sergeant #1882 Charles Stuart Taylor
54th Australian Infantry Battalion, A Company,
2nd Platoon, 14th Brigade, 5th Australian Division
 
Today, in the fields of the Somme which undulate in peaceful waves of poppies, the echoes of the past are heard, the voices of young men who sleep in peace behind the countless rows of their white graves and who here, for their country and for France, stood with bravery in the comradeship that united them in the darkness and the mud of the trenches in which they gave their youth and their today to fight in the name of the peace and the freedom in which we stand and for which they gave their lives being united for eternity with their friends in the shroud of the fields of poppies in which their souls will live forever and who, with the greatest care, with love and gratitude will always be remembered and honored so that what they did and sacrifice will never be forgotten and so that their names may live forever in our hearts and through the flame of remembrance that I would always carry for them with honor.

Today, it is with the utmost respect and with the deepest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his today and paid the supreme sacrifice for our tomorrow. I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Serjeant number 1882 Charles Stuart Taylor who fought in the 54th Australian Infantry Battalion, A Company, 2nd Platoon, 14th Brigade, 5th Australian Division, and who died of his wounds 105 years ago,on October 30,1916 at the age of 33 on the Somme front.

Charles Stuart Taylor was born in 1883 in Molong, New South Wales, and was the son of John Stuart who was a long-time alderman of Molong Council, serving as Mayor for three terms, and of Margaret Taylor (née Hunter), of East Molong and later of 21 Harold Street, Newtown,New South Wales. The family was active in the Presbyterian Church where John was an Elder. Charles was educated at Molong Public School and after graduation moved to Mosman, New South Wales, where he worked as a butcher at Noakes’ butchery then lived at 121 Regent Street, Newtown, Sydney, New South Wales.

At the oubreak of the war in 1914, Charles served in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in New Guinea for 206 days alongside New Zealand soldiers then after the battle of Bita Paka on September 11, 1914, the Germans left New Guinea and Charles was sent back to Australia in early March 1915 suffering from malaria but described his service in New Guinea as "a real good holiday" despite the extreme heat and humidity and shortly after having recovered, still ready to do his duty for Australia , he joined his comrades to fight in the trenches of the great war.

Charles enlisted on March 23, 1915 in Liverpool, New South Wales, in the 2nd Australian Infantry Battalion, 4th Reinforcement and soon after, embarked with his unit from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A8 Argyllshire on April 10, 1915 and sailed for the Gallipoli peninsula.

On May 26, 1915, Charles was disembarked in Gallipoli but three months later, on August 8, during a charge at Lone Pine, he was wounded by a bullet in his shoulder and evacuated on board "Delta" then sent to Egypt where he was disembarked in Alexandria on August 11 then admitted the same day to the 1st Australian General Hospital in Heliopolis then to Luna Park Hospital from where he wrote a letter for his family describing the events surrounding his injury as follows:

"It happened during an attack by theTurks after a German aeroplane had manouevred over the Australians' lines. The Turks rushed with arms full of bombs from a ridge of scrub, and threw them like hailstones; but they were beaten off, after doing a lot of damage. Then they counter attacked again with bombs, but our chaps stuck to the trench and held them alright. I got a bullet in behind the shoulder, and out again, but it did not touch my spine. They were firing from all sides. It put me in mind of a large slaughterhouse. The Turks were piled up everywhere, and we had to walk over dead bodies in the trenches."
Charles gave an interesting account of some everyday happenings at the front:

"I had a good spell in the trenches, before getting knocked-about three months. There was always plenty of work to do,sapping under the Turks' trenches and blowing them up if they did not get in on you first, which they did sometimes. Then we would have to stand to all night, as they used to pour the lead in wholesale,and we never knew whether they I were going to attack or not. They used to put up notices every day,telling us that if we did not surrender they would drive us into the sea, but if we surrendered they would treat us well, and sendus back to Australia. They would also put up notices about what the Germans were doing. The Turks are very big chaps, and look well fed, but they are very poorly dressed. They are good shots, but not much with the bayonet, and when you get them on the run they do go. I think half of them would surrender only for the German officers, who would shoot them for it. Sometimes when a few of them get near us, they drop their rifles and dive into our trenches, and want to shake hands with everybody. The Turks gave us some "pepper" from their artillery before we charged.Then we hopped over the parapets and charged their trenches and soon we had them out of them. Then we got the next two lines before dark, and followed the Turks right up their communication trench. I don't think I ever ran so fast in my life before. I was carrying over-weight, too, loaded with about fifty bombs, but did not feel their weight; I was watching the machine gun bullets tearing a line along just on my right. On Friday night, the Turks kept on rushing our trench, but we knocked them over as fast as they came. Then on Saturday morning we found they were dug in on our front, but they did not seem to have much ammunition,and they seemed frightened to charge us. They had their bayonets fixed, and they kept standing up in their trenches holding their rifles up, and getting knocked over like Aunt Sallies at the show."
On September 2, 1915 Charles was sent and admitted to the Australian and New Zealand Convalescent Home at Helouan, was discharged on September 10 and returned with his unit on October 31 to Gallipoli and served at ANZAC until evacuation in December then embarked on board "Huntsgreen" and was sent to Egypt and was disembarked to Alexandria on December 28 and two months later, on February 14, 1916, was transferred to the 54th Australian Infantry Battalion at Tel-El-Kebir then on June 19, embarked from Alexandria on board "Caledonian" and proceeded overseas for France.

On June 29, 1916 Charles and the 54th Australian Infantry Battalion arrived in France and was disembarked at Marseilles and fought their first major battle on the Western Front at Fromelles on July 19 but the battle was a disaster for the Australian Imperial Force and for the 54th Australian Infantry Battalion which was part of the initial assault and suffered casualties equivalent to 65 per cent of its fighting strength. Casualty rates among the rest of the 5th Australian Division were similarly high, but despite these losses it continued to man the front in the Fromelles sector for a further two months and on August 2, Charles was promoted to the rank of Sergeant.

Two months later, on October 22, 1916, Charles and the 54th Australian Infantry Battalion were sent to the Somme and joined the trenches of Flers, more precisely the Switch Trench where unfortunately, eight days later, on October 30, 1916, Charles met his fate and was fatally wounded by a German high explosive shell.

A coincidence was that the witness of the events preceding the injury and death of Charles also had "Taylor" for name, the private number 575 Harry Taylor, 54th Australian Infantry Battalion declared:
"Charles Stuart Taylor was Sergeant,2nd Platoon,A Company.One of his leg was blown off by a shell in the trenches at Flers on the 30th October and the other leg was badly smashed.He was in great pain,and asked if he hadn't got a friend who would shoot him,he was still alive when carried out of the trench and that is the last I saw of him."

Charles was immediately evacuated and admitted to the 8th Australian Field Ambulance but sadly, died a few hours later, he was 33 years old.

Today, Sergeant Charles Stuart Taylor rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval, Somme.

Charles had a brother who served in the great war, Private number 3712 William Robert Taylor who fought in the 18th Australian Infantry Battalion and the 4th Field Company Engineers.William survived the war and returned to Australia on March 12, 1918 and is remembered and honored on a plaque in the New South Wales Garden of Remembrance.

Charles, you who, in the prime of your life, responded without hesitation and fearlessly, with determination to the call of duty twice to serve Australia, your country with honor and bravery in the heat of New Guinea, on the reddened sand of Gallipoli and in the mud, blood and poppies of the Somme, it is today from the bottom of my heart that I would like to thank you for all you have done for us, for my country, on the soils of northern France alongside your comrades, your French and British brothers in arms with whom, through the darkest hours of history, you fought with courage and honor until your last breath of life so that we can have a tomorrow in the peace for which you gave your youth and your life, your everything in the clay of the fields of the Somme which saw nearly two million men who fell through the barbed wire and under the murderous fire of the machine guns who, at an implacable rate, mowed down waves of heroes, a whole generation of men who, in the trenches, under the artillery, under poison gas and an avalanche of bullets stood with honor and loyalty and did their duty without ever backing down, they remained determined, united in the strongest and beautiful spirit of comradeship they watched over each other and found each other in others the strength and courage to fight and to stand despite the horrors they went through and which remained engraved in their eyes, in their hearts as painful scars that the war inflicted without mercy in its inhumanity which crushed souls and bodies of thousands of young men who sacrificed so much through the poppies.United and convinced of the imminent victory, they came to the other side of the world and to Amiens, Villers-Bretonneux, Pozieres, across the Somme they fought with exceptional devotion for France which they knew little but for which they gave and did so much at the cost of terrible sacrifices but they remained determined and never gave up, they faced the bullets with bravery and followed their brothers, their friends under the enemy fire which spat death and desolation on the bruised, scarified grounds through kilometers of barbed wire and shell holes in which fell friends and enemies but also innocent victims who did their duty with exceptional courage alongside men. Horses, mules, dogs fell in the mud,the war was a barbaric monster who spared nothing and no one and who, in telegrams opened in trembling hands, destroyed in shock waves millions of families who never saw their sons, their husbands, their men again who gave their lives in courageous assaults for just causes, they did their duty with pride and exceptional courage in the spirit of the ANZAC which will never cease to live.Forever young,today they stand solemn and proud alongside their comrades who fought and fell together and over whom I would always watch with the greatest respect by carrying high and proud the flame of remembrance to keep alive and strong the history of these men, of my boys of the Somme so that they are never forgotten and so that their names, their faces, their stories and their legacy can live forever.Thank you so much Charles, William, for everything. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.