Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout

Today, it is with deep emotion but also with gratitude and respect that I would like to honor the memory of one of my boys of the Somme who gave his youth and whose life was taken too soon on the battlefields of the great war and which rests in peace on the peaceful and flowered fields of the Somme on which so many young men fought with exemplary bravery and who fell giving their lives for us. Today I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 2915 Joseph McGregor Townsend who fought in the 4th Pioneer Battalion and was killed in action 102 years ago, on September 2, 1916, at the age of 18 on the Somme front.

Joseph McGregor Townsend was born in 1898 in Petersham, New South Wales, and he was the son of Thomas George and Lilian May Townsend, of "Langside", Phillip Street, Auburn, New South Wales, native of Sydney, New South Wales. Before the outbreak of the war, Joseph lived with his parents at 6, Norwood Street, Petersham, New South Wales, and he worked as an engineer and motor mechanic then as a labourer.

Enlisted on July 14, 1915 in Liverpool, New South Wales, in the 13th Australian Infantry Battalion, 9th Reinforcement, he lied about his age by stating that he was 21 but he was only 17.He embarked with his unit from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A8 Argyllsgire on September 30, 1915,and sailed for Egypt and was disembarked to Ismailia on January 8, 1916 and was sent at Tel-El-Kebir. on March 3, 1916, Joseph was transferred to the 45th Australian Infantry Battalion then, on March 16, 1916, he was transferred to the 4th Pioneer Battalion then on June 4, 1916 he joined the British Expeditionary Force and embarked with his unit from Alexandria for France where he arrived on June 11, 1916 in Marseilles and was sent to the front of the Somme.

Joseph fought with great courage in the Somme but unfortunately, three months later, he met his destiny and was killed in action near Courcelette on September 2, 1916 at the age of 18.

Today, Joseph McGregor Townsend rests in peace with his comrades and young brothers in arms at Courcelette British Cemetery, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "He lived as he died, a hero beloved by all".

Joseph, a young man in the prime of his life who came, like a flower, to open his arms to welcome a life full of hopes, under the Australian sun, where he grew up with people who loved him and who already saw in him a man who would make them proud.in this atmosphere and this happiness which was his, he saw in the distance the dark clouds of war and without hesitation, at the call of his country, he answered without hesitation to the call of duty and joined the ranks of his comrades and joined the battlefields of France and marched to the muddy and winding trenches of the Somme which had already taken so many lives in assaults and attacks from which no one returned unscathed. here, Joseph and his comrades, in a rain icy, fought with admirable courage as they faced daily rain of bullets and the deadly fire of shells that shattered the ground and men, deadly weapons that spared neither the bodies nor the minds of thousands of brave young men who went through hell, following their friends who fell around them, but who had to advance, struggling and dying meter after meter, that was the price that many paid with their lives, they fell together for a better world, so that the world never knows that again. more than a hundred years have passed but the scars of the war are still there, traversing the fields of the Somme which keep in them the bullets, the shells, the trenches and the men who have no known graves.Young French man, I am proud and always moved to be there for them and to follow in their footsteps, not only to know who these men were but also to understand what they did and endured for us, these men who came from so far away for us, they will always have a very big place in my heart and going to their graves is a privilege and i will always be devoted to them and to their families for whom i will do all i can, you will always have my greatest respect and my eternal gratitude, your sons will always be honored with deep love.Thank you Joseph, for all you have done for us, you will never be forgotten and your memory will never fade, your name, in the light of the sun of the Somme, will live forever.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.