Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout, Australia and NZ in WWI

In this morning, the sun, in the dawn of the day, come to light up the name of one of my boys of the Somme who came from Australia and who fell here, on these peaceful and flowered fields of the Somme, in the silence and in Eternal Remembrance, I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Corporal number 814 Joseph Roy Richards who fought in the 7th Australian Infantry Battalion and who died of his wounds 104 years ago, on August 20, 1916 at the age of 21 on the Somme front.

Joseph Roy Richards was born in 1895 in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia, and was the son of Henry and Eva Richards. Joseph was educated at Violet Street School, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. Before the outbreak of the war he was a sailor , was single and lived in Market Street, Eaglehawk, Greater Bendigo, Victoria.

Enlisted on August 18, 1914 in Bendigo, Victoria at the age of 19 in the 7th Australian Infantry Battalion, G Company, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne, Victoria, on board Transport A20 Hororata on October 19, 1914 and sailed for Egypt before reaching the Gallipoli Peninsula in early August 1915 and was punished with 24 hours of detention for being late for a parade on August 5, 1915. on August 12, Joseph was wounded in action and suffered from a shock concussion and was evacuated to a Clearing Casualty Staion for three days then he joined his battalion on August 15 and was again sanctioned with 168 hours of detention for being absent from a sapping party on the night of August 20 to 21 1915.
Joseph was then promoted to the rank of Lance corporal in Gallipoli on December 4, 1915 then he embarked on board the HMT Empress Of Britain for Egypt and arrived in Alexandria on January 7, 1916, the following month, he fell ill at Serapeum and was evacuated to the 2nd Field Ambulance then at the 1st Casualty Clearing Station then at the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital on February 15, 1916 suffering from "Debility". The following month, Joseph rejoined his battalion and embarked from Alexandria on March 26, 1916 for France.

Joseph was disembarked with his battalion in Marseilles on March 30, 1916 but two months later, on May 13, he fell ill and was evacuated and was admitted to Havre Sationary Hospital suffering from gonorrhea. Two months later, on July 30, 1916, Joseph was sent back to his battalion in the Somme and was promoted to the rank of corporal a few days later, on August 10, 1916.

Unfortunately, ten days later, on August 20, 1916, while fighting in the Mouquet farm sector, Pozieres, Joseph was shot in the abdomen and was evacuated to the 2/1 South Midland Casualty Clearing Station Special Hospital near Warloy-Baillon where he died of his wounds the same day, he was 21 years old.
Today, Joseph Roy Richards rests in peace with his comrades and brothers in arms at the Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "Though lost to sight to memory ever dear".

Joseph, you who gave your heart in the hell of the battlefields serving your country with devotion and bravery, from Gallipoli to the Somme you have gone through the worst horrors than a young man and a generation of young man like you have endured, in icy water mixed with blood and mud in the trenches, holding on under a daily rain of deadly shells delivering the fire and steel of a world that went mad and drowned thousands of men under poisonous gas slicks in a war in which so many tears and blood were shed; in chaos and fury, in sorrow you fought like the bravest of men who saw fallen, day after day, friends, comrades, brothers in arms, men who served with admirable loyalty and courage in war-torn landscapes, men who never lost their sense of humor, their backs and arms exhausted by pain but who never gave up, who never bent is and who fought with their hearts for their families and for a peace they all wanted, so that the world never again knows the hell of war. Today on these ancient battlefields,the poppies bloom where you fell and symbolize the sacrifice and the blood that was shed by each of the men who fought and who fell here and that we will never forget, in these fields, in these cemeteries you rest in peace and in our hearts, in our thoughts, you will live forever, your graves and the history of each of you will always be cherished and kept alive so that we never forget what you have done for us who walk in your footsteps to understand and to know who you all were, more than soldiers, men and young, my boys of the Somme. thank you Joseph, you will never be forgotten and your name will live on forever.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.