Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Alfred James Eggins

What we know of Alfred James Eggins comes from family photos, his service records and the history of the Great War.

A young man, Alfred was bronzed Australian standing only 5ft 6 and a half inches of just 25 years when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces.

Why did he seek enlistment? Was it for King and Country, for adventure or just to follow his brother?

In reality we may never know but in all probability it was mixture of all things that stirs a young man’s heart.

While we suppose the reasons Alfred enlisted, we know for certain that he bore the ultimate cost and like many Australians he did not return.

What we do know is that he was loved, he was mourned and sadly missed.

A headstone over an empty grave in the Mitchel Island Cemetery has borne witness to a mother’s grief for her son, fallen in a land far away from the Australian landscape.

This gravestone on an empty plot is a cenotaph, raised prior to the uprising of the community Cenotaphs that the nation knows so well. A place to mourn those lost far away.

Resounding words on the marble expressed his mother grief .

“God took him home it was his will,
Deep Sorrows in of hearts Congealed “

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Alfred James Eggins was born in December 1890 at the Manning River to Arthur and Eleanor Eggins. In the coming four years Alfred became an elder brother with the birth of his brother Maurice and his sister, Reneira.

Alfred was educated at Coopernook Public school and subsequently was working as a labourer when he pursued enlistment in the Australian Imperial Forces.

In reality life does not pass in a paragraph and in the ensuing years since his birth Alfred experienced at least two major hurdles that we know of. The first was a major burn on his right hip that left him with disturbing scar of some 5-6inches in diameter, the treatment of the burn within the knowledge of the time would have been painful to endure. Secondly was the loss of his father who died in Wingham NSW in 1914, mere months before the outbreak of War in Europe.

The distant rumbles of war in Europe first drew in Maurice, Alfred’s brother, into the fold of the AIF in April 1916 and followed by himself in October 1916.

Enlisting saw Alfred spend 45 days at Rutherford Camp before heading to Sydney Where the two brothers briefly united for portrait photos together in uniform.

Boarding the “Port Napier” in Sydney, Alfred was bound for Devonport, Plymouth England.

The journey by sea was long and tiresome, night submarine watches into the endless ocean by starlight and moonlight left little to keep one conscious and so Alfred was introduced to the military justice when he was found asleep at his post.

Having left late in an Australian Spring they disembarked after 73 days to a northern hemisphere English winter.

Through the remaining Winter, Spring and the start of an English summer Alfred was in the 12th Training Battalion at No. 14 Camp, Codford, before then proceeding to Folkestone to cross The English Channel to France.

At the Australian Divisional Base Depot in France he received a fortnight of intensive training in gas warfare and the rigours of more bayonet drill. The war was close and the reality of the task ominously ahead.

June 20th 1917 saw Alfred marching out of the Australian Depot as the part of 7th reinforcement to 46th Battalion AIF, he was allocated to B Company 5th platoon. He joined the Battalion at the Western Front in Flanders, Belgium.

And so fates clock began to tick, history has shown us that if you survived the on the first weeks/months then your probability of surviving the war improved greatly. For Alfred he did survive, not only the battles of the Western Front, but the gas warfare and battlefield conditions.

Summer turned to Autumn and Autumn to Winter and the 46th rotated in and out of the front lines of the Western Front and all that life on the front has to endure. Events of notice with the melee was the battle of Polygon wood (26 Sep - 3 Oct 1917) and Battle of Passchendaele (July to nov 1917)

In the spring of 1918, Germany commenced, Kaiserschlacht (Kaiser battle), a last ditch effort to overcome the lines before the the men and resources of the United States came into play and all hope for a Germany victory would evaporate.

As part of the defence against the German offensive the 46th Battalion were rushed south to the Somme

The German offensive began with bombardment against the Allied lines, round after round of high explosives rained against the entrenched lines and never waining shock wave of noise and shrapnel engulfed the battle field, hours of unrelenting obliterating noise, flying debris and explosions the shuddered not only the earth but shook the souls of men.

Alfred as part of the Lewis gun team scrambled to position and support the gun as it strafed to defend the line. So was the defence of the line, bullets and bombardment, bombardment and bullets. If high explosive were not enough, spring rains turned the churned soil to mud.

In the morning of the 3 April 46th battalion played a role in stopping the onslaught of the spring offensive though at cost them 50 casualties, followed by being relieved off the line.

Bombard of the soil from both sides accompanied with spring rain turn the silt and soil of the land into mud. Being off the line didn’t make things any more comfortable and after almost a day off the line preparations were made to move back to the trenches near Lavieville. Shortly after arriving the men of the 46th were to suffer more heavy bombardment and more casualties, one of which was Alfred. Alfred was killed outright with two of his mates as they sheltered from the bombardment.

The news of Alfred’s death was quickly relayed to Australia and his loved ones, though it was to be nearly 3 months before details of his death was received from Alfred’s platoon commander.

Alfred’s mother shared this detail for all who knew Alfred though the local newspaper.

The Northern Champion (Taree) published it on the 22nd of June 1918.

Mrs. T. Laurie, of Jones' Island, has received the following letter in connection with the death of her son, Private, Alf. Eggins, who was killed in April of this year:—

France, 11/4/1918.
Dear Mrs. Laurie, — Allow me under the sad circumstances to-write and share with you my deepest sympathy in the loss of your son, Private Alfred Eggins.

Your son was one of the bravest and best soldiers I've had in my platoon, always ready and willing to do all duties asked; in fact, many times he did work voluntarily to save others who were not quite as well as they might be.

The blow came on me as platoon commander on April 6, when in the front line a hostile shell fell in the hole your son was in, killing him and two fellow-mates instantaneously.

He was in a Lewis gun section and a better crew never manned a gun. He did excellent work on the 3rd — three days previously — when Fritz attacked us.

I was much hurt, losing not only eight of my boys that morning, but also had a brother, Lieutenant F. H. Jennings, killed. The tour was one of the worst I've experienced, but, thank God, some got through safely, holding good our position and keeping the enemy off.

Your son was recommended for duties of the 3rd and I hope his fortune to gain some decoration comes through.

'Well, Mrs. Laurie, as platoon commander I feel it my duty to write you and all other parents (13 of my platoon who lost sons and husbands), trusting you feel easier with what news I've sent.

I almost forgot to mention we buried your son as the last esteem we could show under the circumstances. Again expressing mine and the boys of No. 5 platoon's sympathy.

Sincerely yours,
Lieut. L. N. JENNINGS,
B Coy., 46th.


So Alfred received a burial, yet the location of him and his mates bodies is lost in the fields of France.

A mother and family, distraught with the lost raised a memorial to Alfred’s honour within the Mitchel Island Cemetery, a private Cenotaph. A place to mourn and to console each other. Alfred is also remembered on Memorials of his town, on The Australian War Memorial, The Australian National Memorial within Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery and also by the people of France.


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“God took him home it was his will,
Deep Sorrows in of hearts Congealed “

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