Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

10 August 1918 - Wounded in action, Shell wound to left thigh and arm

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medl

François Berthout, Australia and New Zealand in WWI
 
Today, it is with a very deep gratitude, and under the rays of the sun of the Somme which saw so many lives lost too early that I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Gunner number 9564 Arthur William Frith who fought in the 6th Brigade of the Australian Field Artillery and who died of his wounds 102 years ago, on August 13, 1918 at the age of 26 on the Somme front.

Arthur William Frith was born in 1892 in Trevallyn, Launceston, Tasmania and was the son of Albert Arthur Frith and Mary Maud Frith, of "Bowenfels", Trevallyn, Launceston, Tasmania. Arthur was educated at Launceston Scotch College, Tasmania, and before the outbreak of the war, he was single, worked as a clerk and lived in Trevallyn, West Tamar, Tasmania.

Enlisted on August 28, 1915 in Claremont, Tasmania at the age of 23 in Divisional Ammunition Column 2, Reinforcement 1, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne, Victoria, on boardd HMAT A34 Persic on November 22, 1915 and sailed for Egypt where he was disembarked on December 21, 1915 at Suez where he served before embarking with the 2nd Australian Artillery Division for France on board Saxonia on March 25, 1916 and arrived in Marseilles on April 3,then he joined the Somme front and was transferred to the 6th Field Artillery Brigade, 17th Battery of the Australian Field Artillery on September 12, 1916.

After a year at the front, Arthur fell ill and was evacuated to England suffering from pneumonia and was admitted to the Ontario Military Hospital near London on November 9, 1917 then he was sent back to France, in the Somme, with his unit on March 19, 1918.Two months later, on May 29, 1918, Arthur was slightly wounded in action and was evacuated to General Military Hospital in Boulogne before being sent back to the front again on June 28, 1918.

Unfortunately, two months later, it was in the Somme that Arthur met his fate, on August 10, 1918, he was in Villers-Bretonneux, marching with his battalion towards Harbonnieres, when, at 4:00 pm, walking behind a gun with four of his comrades, a high explosive shell fell close to them and seriously injured Arthur in the right thigh, arm, lungs and was evacuated to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station in Vignacourt but died three days after being admitted.Of the four men who were wounded with Arthur, two died of their wounds including Gunner Fred Lieberman and two others survived.

Today, Arthur William Frith rests in peace with his comrades and his brothers in arms at Vignacourt British Cemetery and his grave bears the following inscription "Greater love hath no man, he gave his life for his country".

Arthur had a brother, Private number 6832A Roy Frith who fought in the 23rd Australian Infantry Battalion, unfortunately, he died six days after Arthur in Villers-Bretonneux at the age of 21. Today he rests in peace with his comrades in Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery.

Arthur, it is with a very deep respect that I want, with all my heart, coming from a young French man living here, in the Somme, on these now peaceful lands on which you fought, to say thank you, today I think of you and I also think of your parents who had the misfortune of losing you and losing your brother Roy too early in a war which shattered millions of lives, today if your mother, your father were in front of me, I would say that you and your brother fought with bravery, devotion and courage on the battlefield, I would show them your grave which is always maintained with respect and much love,I would tell them that our world is at peace today thanks to you and thanks to all that you have done for us and that your sacrifice, your lost life has enabled millions of people to live today.Today I am sure you are all reunited, your parents and your brother by your side and I am sure they would be happy to see that you are not forgotten and you will never be forgotten Arthur, Roy, you who have known the hell of the battlefields of the Somme, you now rest in the peaceful silence of these ancient battlefields which have since regained their calm and serene silence and which bloom under the poppies which dance under the caresses of the wind like a whisper, the whisper of a whole generation of young men who tell us "you who pass here, never forget that we are resting here and that we have given our lives, our youth, our courage for you, for peace, do not forget us ". Today, we carry in our hands the flame of eternal Remembrance and we carry in our hearts, the tender thought of your memory, of your young faces which will always remain smiling, because you were more than soldiers , you were young men and t today, in my heart you are and will always be my boys of the Somme, my heroes,young men, heroes sometimes unknown but today remembered and alive forever in our hearts. From the bottom of my heart, Arthur, Roy, thank you. you will never be forgotten.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember you,we will remember them.