Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of William and Elizabeth CRUTCHFIELD

Husband of Florence CRUTCHFIELD

From François Berthout

Pte 5659 Charles Crutchfield
7th Australian Infantry Battalion,
2nd Brigade, 1st Australian Division
 
In the fields of the Somme today peaceful and silent, rest in peace, united in remembrance and comradeship, under the countless rows of their white graves, a whole generation of young men who more than a hundred years ago, in the mud of the trenches stood united and bravely under deluges of bullets and shells and who, with determination, charged through the no man's land of the great war against the deadly fire of the machine guns under which they fell. Young and proud , they came from so far for France, a country they did not know much but for which they all fought with honor and loyalty and for which they gave their lives among the poppies that grow where so much blood and tears were shed in the name of freedom and peace in which, young forever, they stand in silence and in which I will always watch over them to tell who they were and what they did for us so that their memories, like the poppies, never fade and their names, like the light of the flame of remembrance, never cease to live.

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 gave his today for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 5659 Charles Crutchfield who fought in the 7th Australian Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Australian Division, and who was killed in action 106 years ago, on February 24, 1917 at the age of 34 on the Somme front.

Charles Crutchfield was born in 1882 in Christchurch, New Zealand where he grew up and emigrated to Australia with his parents a few years later. He was the son of William Leonard and Elizabeth Crutchfield, of corner of Atherton Road And Atkinson Street, Oakleigh, Victoria. Charles was educated at Spring Road, Malvern State School, Victoria and after graduation worked as a market gardener and married Florence Crutchfield (née Ashley), of Koomba Road, Wantima, Victoria,with whom he had an adopted son,Charlie, and lived together in Bendigo Street, Prahran, Victoria.

Charles enlisted on March 10, 1916 at Prahran, Victoria, in the 7th Australian Infantry Battalion,18th Reinforcement,battalion whose motto was "Cede Nullis" (Submit To None) and which was at that time under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Harold Edward "Pompey" Elliott. After a training period of three months, Charles embarked with his unit from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A33 Ayrshire on July 3,1916, two days after the launch of the British offensive in the Somme, and sailed for England.

On September 2, 1916, Charles arrived in England and was disembarked in Plymouth, Devon, where he joined the same day the 2nd Training Battalion then the following month, on October 8, he embarked with his battalion and proceeded overseas for France.

After a short trip on the Channel, Charles arrived in France and was disembarked in Etaples on October 9, 1916 where he joined the 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot then three months later, on January 16, 1917, he marched out to unit and was taken on strength on January 18 in the Somme, at Mericourt-Sur-Somme, where the battalion faced one of the most terrible winters that the region had known, which the battalion's war diary described in a few words "Weather very cold and frosty, snow showers and low temperature. Diarrhea prevalent". On January 30, the 7th Battalion marched to Martinpuich where they relieved the 45th Brigade on February 1 and were supported in this sector by the 25th and 26th Australian Infantry Battalions and two weeks later,on February 20 , the 7th Battalion relieved the 5th Brigade of the 2nd Australian Division at Gueudecourt, near Pozieres, where unfortunately, four days later, on February 24, 1917, Charles met his fate and was killed in action,he was 34 yearsold.

Today, Charles rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Bazentin-Le-Petit Military Cemetery, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "In memory of the dearly loved husband of Florence and father of Charlie."

Unfortunately for Florence, Charles's wife, the misfortune did not stop there because on May 4, 1917, she received a telegram informing her that her brother who fought in the 58th Australian Infantry Battalion, Private number 1616 Arthur Edward Ashley was killed in action at the age of 33 on March 26, 1917 near Bapaume, Somme. Sadly, his body was never found and he is today remembered and honored with respect at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, Somme,alongside the names of 11,000 Australian soldiers who fell in France and the Somme and whose graves are not known.

Charles, you who were in the prime of your life, it was with courage and determination that you left the orchards and the silence of nature to enlist alongside your comrades with whom you walked with your heads held high under the bells, through Australia to embark on what many men thought would be the greatest adventure of their young lives and in a final embrace in the arms of their mothers, their wives, with tears in their eyes but hearts filled with pride and bravery, they said their goodbyes under the rising sun and embarked for the battlefields of the great war, for uncertain days and put their lives in the hands of god knowing that many of them would never return from the front but, convinced of their deeds and of the value of their commitment, they did not back down and carried the colors of Australia high and proud through the winding roads of northern France where they marched valiantly behind the drums and bugles which soon resounded in the poppy fields of the Somme, under the resolute steps of a whole generation of men who, in the villages in ruins, were quickly adopted by the French people who loved and deeply admired the young Diggers for their human warmth, for their smiles and their sense of humor which always prevailed above all. In this darkness, they were in our eyes the light of hope and everywhere they went, they were welcomed like our sons who, alongside the French soldiers fought with exceptional bravery in the trenches in which were born fraternal friendships but quickly, in the hell of Pozieres, they experienced their first major engagement on the Somme front and under the artillery, under the bullets, they lost in a few weeks of fury and intense suffering, more than 23,000 of their brothers and friends, many of whom were never found.in the brutality of this first shock which was the baptism of fire for thousands of young boys, the hopes of a short war were swept away and the first wooden crosses stood up among the poppies on which were shedso many tears and blood of boys who in a few weeks became men, the veterans of the slaughterhouses of the Somme. In this endless nightmare of senseless war, the young men and women of Australia, in the trenches and in the hospitals, showed exemplary courage, they showed the determination, the strength and the dedication of all the Australian people on the soils of France where the spirit of ANZAC still lives above the old battlefields. Unfortunately, after Pozieres, hell broke loose on the shoulders of thousands of young Australian soldiers who suffered terribly at Mouquet Farm then in Flers, Gueudecourt, Amiens, they were always in the front line, side by side under the shells and in 1918 , after a last effort, they led with bravery the counter-attack of Villers-Bretonneux which stopped the last German offensive in the Somme and saved, alongside their French and British brothers in arms, our old country which is France which will always remember our friends and brothers-in-arms from overseas, our friends from Australia whom I would always be honored to welcome and guide in the footsteps of their ancestors, of their relatives who here gave their youth and their lives and over whom I will always watch with love and respect to keep their memory alive, so that the names and sacrifices of these heroes, of my boys of the Somme will never be forgotten.Thank you so much Charles, for everything. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember him,we will remember them.