Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Robert and Mary CAMERON

"He was a state orphan, his mother and father died leaving 6 children." - Thomas Reid Cameron (brother)

# 1900 CAMERON David Joseph                                25th Battalion
 
David Cameron was one of six children born to parents Robert and Mary Cameron in the Brisbane suburb of Bulimba. David’s parents died while the children were young and the children became wards of the state. It is possible that David was placed with a family in Esk as he is recorded as having attended school there. After leaving school, David worked as a timber getter but by the time of his enlistment he was a locomotive fireman with Queensland Railways.
 
David enlisted in Brisbane on 28th June 1915. He was 22 years old and stood just under six feet tall. David named his eldest brother, Robert, of Bulimba as his next of kin. David reported to Enoggera Camp where he was placed into the 3rd Reinforcements of the 25th Battalion. On 16th August 1915, the 160 reinforcements embarked on the Kyarra in Brisbane. Upon arrival in Egypt, the reinforcements went into camp where they continued their training.
 
The 25th Battalion had been in action on Gallipoli since September and many of the men were sick (dysentery) or malnourished. Reinforcements were required and David was among the last draft of reinforcements to be sent to Anzac. The decision to abandon the Dardanelles campaign had already been taken and a gradual withdrawal of troops and equipment had begun secretly. David stepped ashore at Anzac Cove on 9th December to join the ranks of those men of the 25th Battalion who were still fit. The 25th was assigned to beach fatigues while the other three battalions of the 7th Brigade were evacuated. A scheme of several days silence in the front line posts had been instigated to accustom the Turks to the fact that the Australians were preparing for a winter occupation. David was on the peninsula for only ten days and having completed the tasks assigned was evacuated with the rest of the battalion to the island of Lemnos where the 25th went into camp for a prolonged rest.
 
While in rest camp on Lemnos, the men of the battalion received Christmas billies; small billy cans stuffed with items such as socks and handkerchiefs or sweets and nuts. The billies were packed in Australia by one of the many patriotic groups. On 9th January, the battalion relocated to Egypt and went into camp at Tel el Kabir on the Suez Canal. The 25th Battalion was then formally included into the new look army as part of the 7th brigade of the 2nd Division AIF. The men formed part of the canal defence garrison but there was little action and the canal offered better opportunities for swimming. A shift to Ferry Post presented hard work loading and unloading the ferry that transported goods across the canal. The men took great delight in cheering and waving to the many troop and merchant ships that past by. A shift to Moascar brought about a renewal of training. General Birdwood visited the battalion to inform them that they would be the first AIF battalion into Europe and urged the men to “play the game”; whatever that meant. The battalion travelled by train to Alexandria where they embarked on the “Minneapolis” for the crossing of the Mediterranean to Marseilles. During the voyage, the men had to wear their lifejackets due to a treat from submarines. (On the Minneapolis’s return voyage to Cairo, the ship was indeed torpedoed.) The Battalion was transported by train across France to the Armentieres sector of the Western Front. This part of the frontline was considered to be suitable for educating newly arrived troops into the routines of trench warfare, even though there were not actually any trenches as the ground was too boggy. Instead, earthen breastworks had been constructed with timber walls and duckboard floors; and even piped running water; a far cry from the conditions on Gallipoli. The battalion spent several months rotating in and out of the line before being called south to the Somme in July.
 
General Haig, Supreme British commander on the Western Front planned a big push in the south of the British sector through the Somme River valley for the summer of 1916. It was to be the largest battle of the war so far, and was timed to commence on the 1st of July. The attack was a disaster, with the British suffering 60,000 casualties on the first day. In spite of this, Haig was determined to push on and the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions were moved south from the Armentieres sector to Albert to take part in the Somme offensive. 
 
The village of Pozieres half way between Albert and Bapaume, sat on the highest point of that part of the battlefield. Pozieres was taken by the 1st Division on 20th July. The second division’s objective was to take a blockhouse which had been built on the site of a windmill in the village of Pozieres. The windmill was behind two lines of trenches, and provided a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. The attack, the first major offensive by the 25th Battalion since arriving in France, was to begin just after midnight on the 29thJuly. The attack was a failure, with the 25th Battalion suffering 343 casualties (from a strength of a little less than 1000 men). After being relieved and taking on reinforcements, the 25th went back into the attack at Pozieres on 5th August and was successful in taking the objective but at the cost of 108 men dead, ten of whom were company and platoon officers, and 200 wounded. Even for the survivors of Pozieres, it was an experience that marked many for the rest of their lives.
 
After the Somme, the 25th Battalion was sent north to Belgian Flanders for a period of rest and sports. Soon after arriving in camp, David was promoted to corporal. In the first week of October, the battalion was back into rotations at the front where it rained for two weeks. On the 19th October, the entire AIF of four divisions moved south back to the Somme where they would have to spend winter in the Somme mud. An attack by three battalions of the 7th Brigade was ordered for the 5th November at Flers. The condition of the trenches and saps made movement by large numbers of men almost impossible. The attack had no hope of succeeding and like most of the Somme battles ended in failure and recriminations The 7th Brigade Brigadier blamed the commanders of the 25th and 26th Battalions for not getting their men to the start line on time and both men were relieved of command. David must have acquitted himself well as he was promoted to Lance Sergeant. David would be reduced in rank back to corporal in December due to “neglect of duty.”
After Flers, the 25th went into billets around Vignacourt and after a period of rest went back to the rear areas around Fricourt to work on traffic control and light railway construction. On the 2nd February, the battalion moved up to the front at Le Sars to relieve a battalion of Scots Fusiliers. On the 6th February 1917, Lieutenant Berry was leading a group of men up to an outpost about nine pm when two of them were killed; Corporal David Cameron, aged 24, and Private C.E. Cameron. The men were not related. Later that night, Lieutenant Berry was also killed.
 
David’s remains were interred in a cemetery which became the Warlencourt New British Cemetery. His sister, as last surviving sibling wrote to the authorities in 1949 seeking information about David’s grave as she intended to visit her brother’s grave.