Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Lieut H A Willison writing under date March 22 to Mrs E Scurrah mother of Gunner Bert Scurrah, formerly employed in the machine-room of "The Mercury” office, says –

"Long before this letter reaches you you will have received the official notification of poor Bert's death, so know how awfully brief and how far from comforting these must be to you who have lost so much I thought I would write you a few lines in an endeavour to express my deepest and most heartfelt sympathy for you in your great sorrow brought about by the loss of one so dear to you.

I am sure it will be a consolation to you to know that Bert felt no pain his wound was such that he became unconscious the moment he received it, and remained so till the last when he just seemed to fall asleep. Just before it happened and I had been standing talking about one yard from where Bert was standing We finished, and were walking away and 1 had not gone more than ten paces when I heard an explosion behind me: when the smoke and dust had cleared away I saw what had happened. An 8-inch high velocity shell had hit a dugout three yards the other side of where Bert had been standing. It is impossible to hear these shells coming, owing to the high velocity, the first you know about them is when they actually burst ; their Splinters travel faster than sound.

During the time Bert was in the Battery he set an example that everybody may well emulate both in and out of action. During this time he took part in the following battles:-Bullecourt (1917), Messines, Nieuport, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, and Gheluvelt. Besides these battles we have relieved units holding the line on the Ypres and Wytschaete sectors, the latter being the one in which he fell.

We buried him with full military honours in a little village called Dranoutre. We have erected a cross and I am endeavouring to get a photograph of his grave, and will forward same should I manage to procure one.

Had Bert lived a few months longer he would have been an officer, because he was full of character, and possessed the capabilities of a man who would have made a staunch, reliable, and successful officer. His six months' course was to have started in either April or May, and it was with this idea that the Major sent him to the five week's artillery school which he had just completed, and for which he got an excellent report.

In closing this letter, the officers of the battery wish me to convey to you their deepest sympathy and also to express their admiration for his splendid devotion to duty. This was very noticeable while he was acting as our medical detail. Shell fire, no matter how heavy, was never too great to prevent him from attending to our wounded."

The Mercury 10th June 1918

Source: tasmanianwarcasualties.com