Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout

Pte 3942 Frederick Alexander Spurrell,
23rd Australian Infantry Battalion,
6th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division
 
Today in the fields of the Somme, grow peacefully millions of red poppies which, through their blood petals, are the incarnation and the silent symbol of all the men who fought and fell side by side here in the trenches and the battlefields which saw the courage and the sacrifices of millions of young heroes who did their duty with the greatest bravery and who, through the eternal shroud of the flowers of remembrance, gave their today and their lives and rest today in peace united in comradeship under the rows of their white graves which stand proudly under the sun which, in the eternal light, brings to life the names and the stories of those men whom we will always honor with love and the highest respect so that they are never forgotten.

Today, it is with the greatest respect in my heart and with gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these very young men, one of my boys of the Somme.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 3942 Frederick Alexander Spurrell who fought in the 23rd Australian Infantry Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division, and who died of his wounds 105 years ago, on August 6, 1916 at the age of 19 on the Somme front.

Frederick Alexander Spurrell was born in 1897 in Casterton, Victoria, and was the son of Frederick James and Janet Spurrell, of Dunrobin, Casterton, Victoria. Frederick was educated at Casterton State School, Victoria, then served for four years in the Senior Cadets and one year in the Citizen Forces before working as a clerk for Mr.O.A.Berkefeld of "Berkefeld's Motor Works",Casterton and lived in Glenally, Dunfobin, Casterton, Victoria.

Frederick enlisted on September 28, 1915 in Melbourne, Victoria, in the 23rd Australian Infantry Battalion, 9th Reinforcement, and after a period of training of five months at Broadmeadows Army Camp,Victoria, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne, on board HMAT A69 Warilda on February 8, 1916 and proceeded to join the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) in Egypt.

on March 21, 1916, Frederick arrived in Egypt but immediately embarked on board HT Oriana then proceeded overseas for France and was disembarked in Marseilles on March 27.

Two months later, on May 16, 1916, Frederick was taken on strength at Fort Rompu, near Bois-Grenier where with his unit, he carried out work to reinforce defensive positions until July 5, 1916 then were sent to Steenwerck and joined , on July 27, the trenches of Pozieres, in the Somme, which was for the 23rd Australian Infantry Battalion and for the AIF, one of the deadliest battles on the entire Somme front and it is estimated that at the end of the battle of Pozieres, less than 10 percent of the men of the 23rd Battalion survived and 23,000 Australian soldiers were lost.

Unfortunately, Frederick was not among those who survived the inferno of Pozieres and on August 4, 1916, a little over a week after entering the trenches, he was severely wounded by a gun shot wound in the abdomen during an attack at OG1 and was immediately evacuated and admitted to the 13th Field Ambulance then to the 2/1 South Midland Casualty Clearing Station located in Warloy-Baillon, a few kilometers from Pozieres where, despite the greatest care, he died of his wounds two days later, on August 6, 1916, he was 19.

Today,Frederick Alexander Spurrell rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at the Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "In memory of the dearly loved son of Mr and Mrs Spurrell of Victoria."
Frederick, you who were in the prime of your life, young but already as brave as millions of men, it is with bravery that for your young but strong nation, Australia, you fought by putting your energy and your convictions in the battle alongside your French and British brothers in arms and on the soils of France, alongside so many young men as courageous as you, you gave your life, you gave your today so that we can have a tomorrow, a future in peace for which so many men fought and fell and to whom we will be eternally grateful and today it is with this gratitude in my heart that I would like to say thank you , for all that you and your comrades did for us, for our country, for the peace and freedom in which we live by standing with respect in front of you to honor your memory and tell, share your story, the story of a whole generation to whom we owe so much and who gave so much.Young and courageous, these young boys all answered the call of duty under the bells which announced the war and together, one beside the other, they paraded through the streets and the villages to join their comrades and carry the colors and the uniform with pride and left their homes, the love of their loved ones with tears in their eyes but with in their hearts, the determination and the pride to serve their country and to do what was right, for peace and the future of humanity and to do their part alongside their brothers in arms.In the trenches, under enemy fire and the endless howls of shells, the infernal whistling of rains of bullets, they stood with admirable courage despite the death which struck every moment all around them and which took the lives of their comrades on no man's land, on the battlefields which were nothing more than fields of death on which thousands of men were mowed down day after day in an endless nightmare that lasted four years and which taken, in the Somme, the lives of more than 1,300,000 men of all nationalities but who served together for the same causes, for peace and freedom, for the future of the world and of civilization, they did their duty to beyond their limits, beyond the courage a man can give and paid the greatest sacrifice so that others could live and with these thoughts in their hearts, together they went over the top, watching over each other under the deadly and relentless fire of machine guns and shells that swept the battlefields in bloodbaths.They moved forward side by side in the mud and barbed wire in which they fell, struck by downpours of lead against which they had no protection and knew that death awaited them but they did not back down and remained beside their comrades and showed the bravery of a whole youth, of a whole generation of men who will never be forgotten and who, in the Somme will always be honored with dignity and honor, their courage and their lives will never be forgotten.They were Australians, French, British, friends and brothers in arms but all were men with a life, a face, not just names on white graves and it is the story of each of these men that I want to tell and share to bring them back to life and so that in the future, the next generations can also transmit their stories and carry high and proud the flame of remembrance so that these men who gave their lives, never cease to live and it is why I would always watch over them, so that like poppies, the memory of these young men, of my boys of the Somme never fade.Thank you so much Frederick,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.