Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John Patrick did his training as a carpenter when his mother Sarah had a stroke and was not able to look after three of her children, and they were placed in an orphanage in Subiaco near Perth, West Australia.  A family employed him as an apprentice carpenter.

When he was 18 years of age, he tried to enrol in the Army to go to WW1. The authorities realised that he was not of age, and Sarah his mother would not sign the papers. Sarah said that she would sign the papers in a further 12 months time, thinking that the war would be over.   12 months later the War wasn't over, but Sarah kept her promise and signed John Patrick's papers so he could enlist. He was worried that that he would receive a "White Feather" for cowardice. So John Patrick enlisted, and unfortunately was killed in action after only 6 weeks in France. He was only 20 years of age.

Although his Attestation papers show he was 20 years and 3/12 old, he had actually only just turned 19 years of age. 

From Francois Bertout
 
Pte 4786 John Patrick O'Bryan,
28th Australian Infantry Battalion,
7th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division
 
In the fields of the Somme which were more than a hundred years ago, a hell on earth, fought and fell more than two million men who for France, came from the other side of the world to save our beautiful and old country. Of these young men, more than 11,000 Australians whose graves are not known gave their lives for us, to preserve and protect peace and freedom, to preserve humanity alongside their friends and brothers who responded at the call of duty and who, through the poppies, through the blood they shed, sow the seeds of hope, of a better world in which we live thanks to them whose names are engraved in the eternity of the white walls of Villers-Bretonneux where they fought with bravery after having endured the hell of battles which were among the deadliest for the Australian Imperial Force as were Pozières, Mouquet Farm, Dernancourt, Flers, Amiens, Gueudecourt where the memory of the Young Diggers and Australia is kept strong and alive through words that were written by the children of France "Do Not Forget Australia!".Over a hundred years have passed, the battlefields have disappeared under the poppies, the cannons, the machine guns have fallen silent but the ANZAC spirit and the memory of the Australian soldiers will never fade, many of them are patiently waiting for to be found but I will always watch over them to keep their names alive so that they are never forgotten and will forever be our sons, my boys of the Somme.

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 for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 4786 John Patrick O'Bryan who fought in the 28th Australian Infantry Battalion, 7th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division, and who was killed in action 106 years ago, on November 3, 1916 at the age of 19 during the Battle of the Somme.

John Patrick O'Bryan was born on March 19, 1897 in Menindee, New South Wales, near the town of Wilcannia, and was the son of Sarah O'Bryan, of Hall Street, Leonara, Western Australia. Before the outbreak of the war ,he did his training as a carpenter when his mother had a stroke and was not able to look after three of her children who were placed in an orphanage in Subiaco near Perth, Western Australia, but a loving family adopted John who employed him as an apprentice carpenter.

When John was 18, he tried to enlist in the army to go to the battlefields but the military authorities refused, and Sarah his mother would not sign the papers. Sarah said that she would sign the papers in a further twelve months time, thinking that the war would be over. Twelve months later the war wasn't over, but Sarah kept her promise and signed John's papers so he could enlist. He was worried that he would receive a "White Feather" for cowardice. So John joined his comrades.

Determined and ready to do his duty, John enlisted on March 27, 1916 in Perth, Western Australia, in the 28th Australian Infantry Battalion, 12th Reinforcement, and after a training period of just under a month at Blackboy Hill Camp, near Perth, he embarked with his unit from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A60 Aeneas on April 17, 1916 and sailed for England where he arrived on October 14 then the next day for France on board SS Victoria.

On October 16, 1916, John arrived in France and was disembarked at Etaples where he joined the 2nd Australian Divisional Base Depot then was taken on strength in the 28th Battalion on October 30 at Dernancourt, in the Somme. On November 2, he and the battalion marched for Montauban and joined the front line in the trenches at Gueudecourt the next day where unfortunately John met his fate and was killed in action, probably by a German shell, only after a day in the Somme at the age of 19 on November 3, 1916.
Two days later, on November 5, 1916, in atrocious conditions, in rain and thick mud, the 28th Battalion attacked the enemy lines at Flers in an attempt to take and hold a network of fortified German lines called "The Maze" , but under machine gun fire and following catastrophic losses they had to withdraw, it was, after Pozieres, the deadliest engagement for the 28th Australian Infantry Battalion in the Somme.

Sadly, after his death on November 3, 1916, John's body was never found and his name is now remembered and honored with respect on the walls of the Australian National memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, alongside the names of 11 000 young Australian soldiers who gave their lives in the Somme and in the north of France and who have no known graves.

John, it is with exemplary courage and unfailing determination that, despite your young age, you answered the call of duty to do your part alongside your comrades who all took a step forward with the deep desire to fight and who, singing, with an invincible conviction, marched for the other side of the world on the roads of the north of France behind the bugles which guided them through the peaceful poppies of the Somme which spread out in front of them at loss of sight, to the horizon line streaked with thousands of lightnings which announced days full of uncertainty and suffering but with faith and confidence the young Diggers went forward without fear, with in their hearts an invincible ardor , dreams and hopes that gave birth to an eternal smile on their faces that remained engraved in the hearts of the French people who saw in these young boys a new hope of freedom and peace, to preserve humanity and the highest values that define us.Under the rolling thunder of the artillery that spat the flames of destruction and death, these men reached the trenches barely lit by a few rays of sun that pierced through the darkness and the dark clouds full of the smell of blood and of death which showed itself in the innocent eyes of these boys who saw through no man's land the lifeless bodies of their comrades who fell before them in heroic and murderous attacks which ended in a bloodbath in which friends and enemies killed each other with their bayonets and who, in a fatal embrace, died in each other's arms in oceans of mud which were nothing but mass graves watched over by the rats and crows which were the witnesses of nameless massacres.In the face of this carnage, these young men who thought they would live the greatest adventure of their lives discovered the reality, the cruelty and the inhumanity of the war which took the lives of their friends, their brothers who fell face down on the ground, riddled with bullets flooding their uniforms with thick red blood.With no escape, nowhere to hide, they were pounded, torn apart by tons of shells, crushed by the monstrous industrial machine that shattered the lives of these men under tons of bigger and bigger shells that bruised forever once green and peaceful grounds that became fields of death, slaughterhouses that forever haunted the thoughts and nightmares of all those who lived through this war in the face of death.Through this hell on earth which led the world into madness and chaos, the young Australians fought fiercely, their courage never bent before the despair of what they endured day and night in the trenches of Pozieres, Dernancourt, Flers ,Amiens, Villers-Bretonneux, they fought without rest like real lions united in the most beautiful and strong bond of mateship, of solidarity, united in the ANZAC spirit they went over the top watching over each other, protecting each other without ever taking a single step back even in the face of machine gun fire and impenetrable barbed wire lines into which so many of them fell and for their comrades they charged towards the enemy lines, bayonets forward until the peace of November 11, 1918 but they paid very heavy sacrifices and saw behind them so many of their brothers in arms lying in the poppy fields and who, after a last farewell were buried in today's serene and silent cemeteries above which the birds and the calm of the peace for which they sacrificed their youth are heard.More than a hundred years have passed but in the sacred grounds of the Somme, thousands of heroes who rest in peace without crosses or graves are waiting to be found to join the ranks of their comrades but even without a final resting place, they will forever have in our hearts the place they deserve, they will always be remembered with love and gratitude, I will bring their names, their stories to life so that they will never be forgotten because even without graves, these young heroes had lives that deserve to be told so they can live forever.Thank you so much John,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.