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From Francois Somme

Lt Alan James Kerr
24th Australian Infantry Battalion, A Company,
6th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division AIF
 
The Somme, once a hell on earth never seen before, its fields resound today with the murmurs of thousands of young men who here, for France and their country, in the name of peace and freedom, fought with exceptional bravery in the face of fire and who, always united by an unfailing camaraderie, rest here in peace through the red waves of poppies on which so much tears and blood were shed in the darkest hours but, With courage and determination, in the prime of their lives, these young boys answered together the call of duty and did their part with honor under the bullets and shells which mowed them down at an appalling pace through days filled with pain and despair but despite the darkness they endured, despite the death and the fears, they stood firm and showed the courage of all the young and strong Australian nation whose sons gave their today and their lives with pride and love for their friends, thousands of whom paid the supreme sacrifice and over whom I will always watch with compassion, with respect to honor their memory so that they may live forever in the light of remembrance.

Today, it is with the utmost respect and with the deepest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, of one of my boys of the Somme who gave his today for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Lieutenant number 1058 Alan James Kerr who fought in the 24th Australian Infantry Battalion, A Company, 6th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division of the Australian Imperial Force, and who was killed in action 108 years ago, on July 27, 1916 at the age of 21 during the Battle of the Somme.

Alan James Kerr was born April 19, 1894 in Auburn, Boroondara, Victoria, Australia, and was the son of John Henry Kerr (1860-1923), receiver and paymaster of Victorian government treasury, and Lizzie Liggett Kerr (née Robison, 1866-1935), of "Brenta", 15 Kintore Street, Camberwell, Victoria and had three brothers, Frank Robison Kerr (1899-1977), Eric John Kerr (1892-1917) and Keith Gardner Kerr. Alan was educated at Wesley College, Victoria, served in the Citizen Military Forces then in the Senior Cadets, rising to the rank of Lieutenant then worked as a clerk at the Union Bank in Melbourne until the outbreak of the war.
Alan enlisted on January 19, 1915 in Melbourne, Victoria, as a Private in the 24th Australian Infantry Battalion, A Company, and was promoted the same day to the rank of Serjeant then, after a training period of just over three months at Broadmeadows Camp, Victoria, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on May 10, 1915 and sailed for Gallipoli and on June 6, at sea, was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant.
On September 30, 1915, Alan was disembarked on the Gallipoli peninsula but was admitted the same day to the 6th Field Ambulance suffering from diarrhea, was discharged to duty then, after recovering, returned to his unit on October 5 in the Lone Pine sector. The Battalion's positions were very close to the Turkish trenches and was hotly contested. The position was so tenuous, that the troops holding it had to be rotated regularly, and as a result the 24th spent the remainder of the campaign rotating with the 23rd Battalion to hold the position then on December 8, the battalion evacuated from Gallipoli and Alan was promoted the same day to the rank of Lieutenant.

On January 10, 1916, Alan arrived in Egypt and was disembarked in Alexandria and in the months that followed, the 24th Battalion took part in the defense of the Suez Canal against the Turkish forces which the Australian and British forces easily repelled in this sector despite the suffocating heat of the desert then, on March 20, the 24th joined the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) in Alexandria and proceeded overseas for France.

After a week of a voyage without notable inconveniences on the Mediterranean Sea, Alan finally saw the coasts of France and was disembarked in Marseilles on March 27, 1916 and from there embarked by train for Rebecq, in Belgium, which the 24th Battalion reached on March 29 but during the trip a soldier, the Private Kennedy fell from the train but survived and was sent to hospital. The following day, they marched into billets and followed a period of training then on April 7, moved through Wittes, Thiennes, Haverskerque, Merville, La Gorgue, Sailly-Sur-La-Lys, and arrived in billets at Fleurbaix, in Pas-De-Calais.Here, after a brief period of rest, they joined the front line from where they relieved the 23rd Australian Infantry Battalion but, after a period of inactivity in this rather calm sector whose silence was sometimes cut off by German sniper fire, no major action took place and on April 21 they moved back into billets at Fleurbaix where they remained until April 28.

On April 29, 1916, Alan and the 24th Battalion left Fleurbaix and marched into billets at Hallobeau, near Steenwerck (Hauts-De-France), where they underwent a new period of training including bayonet fights, sniping, musketry, then, after receiving new equipment, followed anti-gas exercises followed by fatigue parties consisting of digging trenches and burying communication cables between Rue-Marle and Bois-Grenier then on May 28, they received orders to move to their next billets at Rolanderie Farm, south of Armentieres where they only remained for a very short time.

On June 1, 1916, Alan and his comrades left Rolanderie Farm and moved to Erquinghem where they were mainly employed in working parties and then on June 11 marched to Rue Marle where they alternated between rest and training including trench raiding exercises which were to prepare them for an attack aimed at capturing German strongpoints a few kilometers away which took place on June 29 and which was a success.

After that, the 24th Battalion was relieved on July 4, 1916 by the New Zealand Rifles and marched into billets in an area called "La Creche", near Bailleul and remained there until July 8 then the next day, marched through Pradelles, Hazebrouck, Ebblinghem, Wardrecques, Arques and arrived in the Somme, in the small rural village of St Sauveur where they bivouacked until July 16 then resumed their march, this time through Rainneville, Toutencourt, Varennes, arrived at Albert on July 25 and the next day, under German artillery fire, joined the trenches of the "Sausage Valley" and A Company, under the orders of Alan, occupied a trench with a mournful name and evocative of the fury of the fighting, the "Cemetery Trench", with the support of the Warwickshire Regiment on their left and the 22nd Australian Infantry Battalion on their right then, at the end of the day, received the order to be ready to go over the top the following day, in a battle which was the deadliest for all the AIF on the Somme front and which the young Diggers called "hell on earth of Pozieres".

British attacks on the Somme had brought the front line close to the village of Pozières. There, in darkness on July 23,1916, the 1st Australian Division made an assault supported by heavy artillery fire. The ruined village was taken in hard and intense fighting and enemy counter-attacks were repelled. The Germans responded by pounding the area with their artillery. The capture of Pozières was a significant achievement, but within five days the 1st Division had lost 5,000 men.

Sergeant Archie Barwick wrote:
"All day the ground rocked and swayed from the concussion.We were all nearly in a state of silliness and half dazed, but still the Australians refused to give ground."

The 1st Division was replaced by the 2nd, whose first attack met with disastrous losses. In further fighting the division captured some ground but suffered more casualties,overall, almost 7,000 in twelve days. The 4th Division was the next to take part, pressing its attacks towards the adjoining Mouquet Farm. With this move, the Australians were trying to threaten the enemy positions at Thiepval, where the British had been stuck for weeks. However, in attacking on a narrow front they became increasingly exposed to murderous shell-fire and yet more counter-attacks.
The three Australian divisions took their turn at Pozières and all suffered heavily. Then, with their numbers built up to only two-thirds strength, each was sent into the inferno for a second tour. Over a period of 42 days the Australians made 19 attacks, 16 of them at night; as a consequence, the casualties finally totalled a staggering 23,000 men, of whom 6,800 were killed.

For men thrown into the fighting at Pozières the experience was simply hell. The battlefield had become the focus of artillery fire from both sides. Attacks went in, some ground was taken, and then the enemy would counter-attack. Throughout this action the fighting was wild, and all the time the shelling tore up the ground, folded the trenches in, and blew away any protection.

Major Walter Claridge wrote to his wife:
"I knew you would be ashamed if I played the coward, so I kept straight on at the head of my platoon. I was thankful to get wounded as it got me out of the firing line for a rest. Australia may well be proud of the part its boys played in taking Pozières.The ordeal at Pozières, both physical and mental, was more than men could put up with for very long. Courage made little difference, what each man needed was endurance and luck."

Sergeant R. Baldwin, of the 27th Battalion wrote:
"We came out this morning as best we could. We are a very shaken lot. Well, we went in and relieved the first division on the night of August 1, six days ago. I saw some awful things although I never got a mark, we are all on the edge, all our nerves are wrecked, we lost some fine men."

Unfortunately, while Alan led his company in an attack at Pozieres on July 27, 1916, according to a witness, "he was hit and blown to pieces" by a shell which killed him instantly, he was 21 years old.

Today, Lieutenant Alan James Kerr rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Pozieres British Cemetery, Ovillers-La-Boisselle, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "Loved son of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Kerr, Camberwell, Victoria."

One of Alan's brothers also fought bravely in the Great War. He was Captain Eric John Kerr who served in the 11th Australian Field Ambulance. Unfortunately, Eric was killed in action on October 4, 1917 at the age of 25 in Ypres ,Belgium,and now rests peacefully in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.

Alan, it is by proudly wearing the colors of Australia that you answered the call of duty to do your part, to be present alongside your brothers and comrades who, in the prime of their lives, took together a step forward and marched with conviction towards the battlefields of the Great War, towards the poppy fields of northern France which, little by little, were annihilated under the artillery fire which, with brutality, spat into the flames and the smoke, tons of shells that fell at a dreadful pace and shattered the last remnants of humanity in the name of which so many young men bravely fought in the despair and the darkness of the trenches which were only narrow lines scarred by miles of barbed wire and here, under poison gas and flames, under skies broken by rains of shrapnel, lost their innocence and their hopes in what they thought was a great adventure and found only the violence, the suffering of a world that spun out of control and was dragged into the madness of a senseless war that drove a whole generation of young boys to kill each other in the fury of battles and murderous charges that were broken under the fire of the machine guns then, in this hell, without anywhere to flee or hide from this nightmare, after a last whistle, had to go over the top and, in a leaden furnace, friends and enemies threw themselves on each other the others and were shredded with bayonets and trench shovels, bringing a whole generation of men into an exacerbated savagery engendered by the monstrosity of the war which caused a whole youth to fall towards death on these putrid quagmires on which flowed so much of tears and blood of young men who fought shoulder to shoulder with the utmost bravery in the finest spirit of camaraderie and brotherhood that brought them together and gave them the strength to hold the front line under the mournful howls, such a macabre symphony whose mechanical tinkling of cannons and tanks were the conductors, monsters of steel swallowing flesh who crushed so many heroes who gave their today at the gates of hell and saw their friends, their brothers who were caught in storms of fire and who, after a few steps, in a courageous dash, were stopped, riddled with bullets and reduced to pieces by larger and larger shells, they saw them who, in sheaves of blood, fell heavily under the weight of their rifles and who were swallowed by a filthy mud but despite what they endured, they never backed down and served with pride to preserve the peace and defend freedom but the price of victory was paid by high sacrifices to which so many young souls consented on these sacred fields of the Somme where so many young Diggers and their brothers in arms still rest in peace behind the rows of their white graves and which remind us every day how privileged we are to live in peace for which so many men fought and fell.Young they were and never had the chance to grow old but their faces and their memory never faded In the silence of the poppies they still walk proud knowing they are remembered with love and respect and over them I will always watch with the utmost respect so that the torch of remembrance they bequeathed to us shines forever so that their names live forever.

Thank you so much Alan, for all that you and your comrades, for all that Australia has done for my country whose love, gratitude and respect will forever be yours.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him, we will remember them.