Ralph Arnold GRIFFITHS

GRIFFITHS, Ralph Arnold

Service Number: 3621
Enlisted: 22 January 1917
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 40th Infantry Battalion
Born: Deloraine, Tasmania, Australia, 23 January 1898
Home Town: Deloraine, Meander Valley, Tasmania
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Killed in Action, France, 27 July 1918, aged 20 years
Cemetery: Crucifix Corner Cemetery
Crucifix Corner Cemetery (Plot X, Row C, Grave No. I), Villers-Bretonneux, France, Crucifix Corner Cemetery, Picardie, France
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Deloraine War Memorial
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World War 1 Service

22 Jan 1917: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3621, 40th Infantry Battalion
30 Oct 1917: Involvement Private, 3621, 40th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: ''
30 Oct 1917: Embarked Private, 3621, 40th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Melbourne

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Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From François Berthout, Australia and NZ in WWI

Today, it is with deep gratitude, with all my heart and with respect that I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 3621 Ralph Arnold Griffiths who fought in the 40th Australian Infantry Battalion and who was killed in action 102 years ago, on July 27, 1918 at the age of 20 on the Somme front.

Ralph Arnold Griffiths was born on January 23, 1898 in Deloraine,Meander Valley, Tasmania, Australia, and was the son of Benjamin and Ellen Griffiths (née Walsh). Before the war, he lived with his parents in High Plains, Deloraine, Tasmania, Australia, he was single and worked as a labourer and served with the 91st Infantry Regiment.

Enlisted on January 22, 1917 in the 40th Australian Infantry Battalion, 9th Reinforcement, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A60 Aeneas on October 30, 1917 and sailed for England where he was disembarked at Devonport on December 27, 1917 and received his training at Sutton and embarked with his unit from Southampton on April 7, 1918 for France where he was disembarked at Rouelles on April 8, 1918 and joined the Somme battlefields on April 10.

Ralph fought with great courage in the Somme but unfortunately, three months later, on July 27, 1918, he was killed in action at Le Hamel at the age of 20.

Today Ralph Arnold Griffiths rests in peace with his comrades and brothers in arms, united in peace in the Crucifix Corner Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "He gave his life , his all greater love hath no man ".
Ralph had two brothers, Private number 1530 David Edgar Griffiths who fought in the 13th Field Artillery Brigade and died of disease on January 23, 1919 and Private number 3659 Frank Gordon Griffiths who fought in the 26th Australian Infantry Battalion and was killed in action in Pozieres on July 29, 1916.

Ralph, through these few words I wish to express to you all my gratitude, for you and for your brothers who paid the greatest sacrifice by serving with bravery on the battlefields of the great war, you did more than your duty with the greatest loyalty, for your country and for your family, coming from the other side of the world to serve a noble cause and noble ideas, humanity, freedom, peace, for the fate of the world you have traveled until reaching the bruised and torn lands of the Somme, on these lands which will always be yours and those of the Australian people but also those of all the countries which fought together in the most beautiful spirit of camaraderie and fraternity,it is united that you fought and that you went through the horrors of war, losing your innocence and your childish soul in the turmoil of war which mowed down so much life in the torrent of bullets and shells breaking lives and spirits but never broke your courage and comradeship, drowning in the trenches and the mud so many hopes of young men like you who had so much to accomplish, like so many young men, the war took your life and that of your brothers but your spirit, your loving memory, your history, the bravery with which you fought will never disappear, you will live forever through us, through our generations and the next generations who will honor your memory and the memory of all your comrades who fought and who fell, not only here in the Somme but on all the battlefields of the war on which the poppies will always bloom, symbol of Remembrance,symbol of your sacrifice and all those who like you Ralph,gave their today for our tomorrow,your name will live on forever.Thank you Ralph,from the bottom of my heart.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.🌺

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