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Australia

From François Berthout

Pte 1071 John Cecil Buxton
15th Australian Infantry Battalion,
4th Australian Division, 4th Brigade

Here we are at five days of Christmas and more than ever, my thoughts are with all these young men, my boys of the Somme who, more than a hundred years ago, did not have the chance to be with their families nor to be united in the love of their loved ones and who, in the muddy and icy trenches of the Somme, stood with courage alongside their friends, their brothers in arms under rains of bullets and shells and who, in the barbed wire, in the snow and the poppies of that terrible winter of 1916, met their destinies and fell on the battlefields of the great war on which they did their duty with bravery and where today they rest in peace and silence but also in love and remembrance behind their rows of white graves over which I would always watch with respect so that the names and the memory of these men who gave their all live forever.

Today, it is with the utmost respect and 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 1071 John Cecil Buxton who fought in the 15th Australian Infantry Battalion, 4th Brigade, which was first assimilated to the 1st Australian Division then to the 4th Australian Division, and who died of his wounds 105 years ago,on Wednesday December 20, 1916 at the age of 27 on the Somme front.

John Cecil Buxton was born on December 3, 1889 in Port Frederick, Tasmania, Australia, near Devonport, Tasmania, and was the son of Henry Buxton and Georgina Buxton (née Parker), of Wilmot, Tasmania, and had four brothers, William , Arthur Henry, Henry George, Raymond James, and four sisters, Olive Eva, Annie Georgina, Dora May and Amy Florence. John was educated at State School, Tasmania, and after graduation worked as a farmer.

John was enlisted on April 19, 1916 at Claremont, Tasmania, in the 45th Australian Infantry Battalion, C Company, and after a two month training period, was transferred to the 15th Australian Infantry Battalion on July 1, 1916, the first day of the British offensive in the Somme, and embarked the same day with his unit from Hobart, Tasmania, on board HMAT A35 Berrima and sailed for England where he arrived in early September and joined the 4th Training Battalion at Rollestone, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, then on September 30, embarked with his battalion and proceeded overseas for France.

On October 1, 1916, John arrived in France and was disembarked at Etaples where he joined the 4th Australian Divisional Base Depot and on October 13, proceeded to join the 15th Australian Infantry Battalion, was taken on strength on October 16 "in the field", in the trenches of Zillebeke, near Ypres, Belgium, under a rainy weather and a very active German artillery.They were relieved on October 19 by the 8th London Regiment then marched for the Ontario Camp located at Reninghelst, near Poperinge, Belgium where the 15th Battalion followed a period of training, including bayonet fighting and physical exercises then on October 23 marched for Godewaersvelde, Hauts-De-France, and on October 29 were sent to the Somme, and arrived in the small town of Pont-Remy.

On November 1, 1916, John and the 15th Australian Infantry Battalion left Pont-Remy and arrived in the Amiens sector the next day, more precisely at l'Etoile then joined Picquigny on November 3 where the men were billeted until November 5 and marched through Amiens, Querrieu, Pont-Noyelles, La Houssoye, Ribemont, Buire-sur-l'Ancre and arrived at the "Huts" on the Albert Road on November 6th and remained in this sector which was the sporadic target of German artillery until December 23 but unfortunately, it was in this sector that three days earlier, on December 20, 1916 that John met his destiny and was seriously wounded by a German shell and was immediately evacuated to the Number 1 Main Dressing Station in Bazentin-Le-Petit, Somme, suffering from concussion and fracture at the base of the skull but despite the greatest care, he died of his wounds later that same day, he was 27 years old.

Today, John Cecil Buxton rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Bazentin-Le-Petit Military Cemetery, Somme.

One of John Cecil Buxton's brothers courageously served during the Great War, Private number 6967 Raymond James Buxton fought in the 12th Australian Infantry Battalion but unfortunately was killed in action on November 1, 1917 at Zonnebeke and his body was never found but his name is remembered and honored with respect at The Menin Gate memorial, Ypres, alongside the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians who fell during the Ypres campaign and who have no known graves.
John, Raymond, Braves and in the flower of your life, it is in fraternity and courage that you together answered the call of duty to do your bit on the battlefields of Belgium and the north of France, in the trenches and the mud of the Somme where you gave your youth and your today under the bullets and the shells which transformed cities and landscapes formerly peaceful and silent in fields of ruins and death scarified by kilometers of barbed wire, martyred by millions of shell holes in which fought and served with honor a whole generation of young boys who, fearlessly, with determination, found the strength to charge and to move forward under downpours of bullets and rains of shrapnel through which they were broke and fell alongside their friends in the poppy fields which today remind us with emotion of the courage and the sacrifices of these heroes who, for Australia and for France , alongside their French brothers in arms and those of the Commonwealth, fought shoulder to shoulder in the same horrible conditions for the peace and freedom in which we live today thanks to them but whose price was that of blood and tears shed by innocent young boys who did what was right, who thought they would live the greatest adventure of their lives, but who, in the fields of Ypres and the Somme, discovered the death and despair of a world in war which saw humanity sink into the madness and the sadness of dreadful bloodbaths in which waves of men fell in the fury and courage of waves of assaults which broke under the bite of the fire of the machine guns which spit death at a rate never seen on men united in comradeship who, one after the other, in tight and determined lines, collapsed in the clay in which they lived for four years and which was for many of them their last home, their last resting place on which stand today, in peace, millions of white graves on which are inscribed for the eternity, much more than the anonymous names of a generation of men, they tell us about the lives and the individual destinies of men who, before and during the war had a life and who, without hesitation, to help France, gathered under the same uniform, in common causes and fought until their last breath of life, these graves are those of heroes who gave their all and on which I would do everything to put a face, a story so that they are never forgotten, so that they will be remembered for who they were, young men full of lives, dreams and hopes and who in the Somme, just like the spirit of Australia and ANZAC, will live forever , they are and will always be in my heart much more than ordinary men, my heroes, my boys of the Somme.Thank you so much John, Raymond, for all that you did for us, for France, a country that you and your comrades did not know much about but which became your second homeland and which, forever, will honor your memory with the most high respect and in our greatest care, a country which will always be yours and which will always see the Australian flag flying alongside the French flag in honor and remembrance.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember them.