Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout

LCpl 7090 Colin Golden Thompson
13th Australian Infantry Battalion,
4th Brigade, 4th Australian Division
 
Through the fields of the Somme, stand in silence, row after row, the white graves of a whole generation of men who, gone but not forgotten, rest in peace side by side, eternally united in brotherhood and camaraderie who guided them more than a hundred years ago in the trenches and on the battlefields of the Somme where together, for peace and freedom, for Australia and for France gave their today in the name of the highest values which gave them the courage and the strength to go forward under the fire of the machine guns which mowed them down at an insane pace among the poppies where they still stand united and proud under the rising sun which will never cease to shine the light on the names and the memory of these young men on whom I will always watch with honor and respect so that they will never be forgotten.

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 paid the supreme sacrifice for us. I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Lance Corporal number 7090 Colin Golden Thompson who fought in the 13th Australian Infantry Battalion, 4th Brigade, 4th Australian Division, and who was killed in action 104 years ago, on April 6, 1918 at the age of 23 on the Somme front.

Colin Golden Thompson was born on August 29, 1894 in Dinton Vale, Inverell, New South Wales, and was the son of Walter Golden and Alice Elizabeth Thompson, of Pikedale, Stanthorpe, Queensland. He was educated at Ashford State School and after graduation worked as a motor driver.
Colin enlisted on October 28, 1916 at Armidale, New South Wales, as a Private in the 13th Australian Infantry Battalion, 23rd Reinforcement, battalion whose motto was "Vigor in Arduis" (Energy Amid Hardship) and under the command of then Colonel John Monash. After a month-long training period at Boadmeadows Camp, Colin embarked with his unit from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A72 Beltana on November 25, 1916 and sailed for England.

On January 5, 1917, Colin was admitted to the ship's hospital for 25 days and on January 29, arrived in England and was disembarked in Devonport. The next day, he joined the 4th Training Battalion in Codford but was sent and admitted in hospital on February 1 suffering from mumps and tonsilitis then was transferred to Parkhouse Hospital on February 22, moved back to Codford hospital on April 6 from where he was released on April 10 and completed his training with the 4th Training Battalion and four months later, on August 13, embarked with his battalion from Southampton then proceeded overseas to France.

On August 14, 1917, Colin arrived in France and was disembarked at Le Havre, he marched out to unit on August 29 and was taken on strength on September 1 at Verte Rue, near Hazebrouk where the 13th Australian Infantry Battalion was sent on September 3 to followed a period of training which ended on September 11 then they marched for Lisbourg the following day and where they remained until September 19 then marched through Hondeghem, Steenvoorde, and arrived at the Ypres canal on September 22. On September 26, the battalion attacked on the Red and Blue line and were relieved two days later then marched to Montreal Camp and moved back to Steenvoorde on September 30.

On October 10, 1917, Colin and the 13th Battalion left Steenvoorde and moved to Halifax Camp at Ypres and entered the reserve trenches at Westhoek Ridge on October 15 and relieved the 15th Australian Infantry Battalion then moved in support line to Zonnebeke, were relieved on 21 October by the 14th Australian Infantry Battalion and marched for Railway Wood Dugouts. Two days later on 23 October they joined Infantry Barracks at Ypres and were sent to Reninghelst by bus on 24 October then embarked by train from Brandhoek for Wizernes, Pas-De-Calais, where they arrived on October 27 and proceeded to Fontaine-Les-Boulains which they reached the next day and where they were billeted until November 17 alternating between training, fatigue parties, bayonet fighting and musketry training.

On November 18 they left Fontaine-Les-Boulains and marched through Ruisseauville, Wambercourt, Tortefontaine, Fontaine-Sur-Maye, Hautvillers and arrived on the Somme front at Franleu on November 24 then went to Woincourt the next day and where they stayed until December 4.

On December 5, 1917, Colin and the 13th Battalion left Woincourt and marched for Peronne then arrived at Moislains on December 6 where they had another period of training in bad weather but were billeted in comfortable conditions and had hot baths. Two weeks later, on December 20, they moved to Templeux-La-Fosse where the men were employed on work on the General Headquarters line and had sports exercises then were sent to Bailleul on January 11, 1918.
On January 12, 1918, after their arrival in Bailleul, Colin and the 13th battalion marched to Billets in Meteren, Hauts-De-France, then four days later,on January 16, Colin was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal and were sent to the Curragh Camp in Locre and a week later, on January 21, joined the frontline at White Chateau and ten days later in a position called "Crater Dugouts" from where they were relieved on February 5 by the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion.

On February 6, 1918, the battalion moved back to Curragh Camp at Locre and was mainly employed in working parties until February 19, then the next day, after a hot meal, relieved the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion on the Voormezele front line, a relatively calm sector of the front which they occupied until March 2 before moving to Neuve Eglise the following day where the men enjoyed a good period of rest until March 22 but the day before, the German army launched its spring offensive planned by General Erich Ludendorff which was the last attempt for the Germans to break through the Allied front and after a final rest at Waterloo Camp near Neuve Eglise, the 13th Battalion was sent on April 1 to Hebuterne, in the Somme, to stop and counter any German assault but it is there that unfortunately, five days later, on April 6, Colin met his fate and was killed in action, he was 23 years old.

Today, Lance Corporal Colin Golden Thompson rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Euston Road Cemetery, Colincamps, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "Call not back the dear departed anchored safe where storms are o'er."

Colin, you who were so young, it was without hesitation that you answered the call of duty under the dark clouds of a world at war to serve your country with honor and courage alongside your comrades and brothers in arms who, at your side, marched with determination and conviction through the muddy roads of Belgium and northern France under the thunder of artillery which, on the horizon line, broke the silence with a mournful roar but despite a future filled with uncertainty, a whole generation of men moved forward together to do what was right. In the darkness, they entered the trenches and discovered the apocalypse of a world that descended into madness and fury and left behind their childhood and their innocence when they saw their brothers, their friends being crushed and pulverized under avalanches of shells and of which nothing was left, they saw entire battalions being cut down mercilessly by deadly fire from enemy rifles and machine guns and knew that very soon it would be their turn to go over the top with almost no chance of come back alive and knew what horrors awaited them in no man's land and lived each day as if it were the last alongside their pals, among the rats and the deep mud in which many were drowned.United in the highest bravery, these young men faced adversity and found in camaraderie, comfort, strength and courage to hold on and fought tirelessly like lions, they fiercely resisted enemy assaults and charged bayonets forward behind their officers, through the chaos and the carnage of the battles they gave all they had because they knew that on their courage would depend the future of the world, they followed each other guided by an unfailing courage which personifies the Australian soldiers, a courage that was born in their friendship and their brotherhood and were led by the ANZAC spirit through the barbed wire, over the shell holes and the devastated fields, they moved forward never giving up, they advanced until they take the enemy lines or until the last of them falls but they never retreat and were deeply admired by their brothers in arms and French friends who had the honor to fight at their sides in the fields of the Somme.Always in the front line, always ready to do their duty, they fought for our beautiful France as if this country had seen them grow, they fought for France with love as if it were their country and in the trenches of the Somme, they did and sacrificed so much for us until the final victory after four years of pain and suffering in Gallipoli, in Belgium, in the fields of Flanders and France. Over a hundred years have passed and the scars of war are beginning to heal, the machine guns and cannons went silent but the memory of the men who fought and fell here will never fade, the memory of Australian soldiers will always be kept strong and alive with respect and love, a love that schoolchildren wrote on the walls of the schools of Villers-Bretonneux and Amiens in these few words engraved in history and in our hearts "Do not forget Australia". No, we will never forget them, we don't know them all but we owe them so much to all of them and it is with pride and utmost respect that I will always watch over them so that who they were and what they did for us, for peace and freedom never to be forgotten, so that their names and their stories live on forever. Thank you so much Colin, for everything. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him, we will remember them.