Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout

Pte Charles Henry Linford 3380
2nd Battalion of the Australian Pioneers  
 
In the fields of the Somme and the north of France, rest in peace, in silence and for eternity, thousands of young men who always stand young and proud behind the immaculate rows of their white graves which remind us of every days what did for us a whole generation of heroes many of whom were never found and are only known to god but here, in the Somme, in Villers-Bretonneux, in Thiepval, the names of these boys will always be remembered and honored and in our hearts will never be considered missing, they stand among their comrades with whom they fought and fell for their countries on the sacred grounds of France for which they fought and fell and which, forever, with respect and care, with love and gratitude, will keep their memories strong and alive so that their names, faces, stories and sacrifices are never forgotten.

Today, it is with the utmost respect and with 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 was never found but who will never be forgotten. I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 3380 Charles Henry Linford who fought in the 2nd Battalion of the Australian Pioneers and who was killed in action 103 years ago, on October 5, 1918 at the age of 21 in Montbrehain, Aisne, Hauts-De-France.

Charles Henry Linford was born in April 1897 in Nagambie, Victoria, Australia, and was the son of George Robert Linford whose address was given as Arcadia via Murchison, Victoria, and Emma Linford, of Lauderdale, Byrneside, Victoria. Charles was educated at Nagambie State School, served in Senior Cadets and before the outbreak of the war, worked as a blacksmith and lived in Katamatite, Victoria.

Charles enlisted on November 7, 1916 in Melbourne, Victoria, in the 2nd Battalion of the Australian Pioneers, Reinforcement 8, and the following month, on December 16, after a short period of training at Seymour Camp, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne on board HMAT A7 Medic then sailed for England.

On February 18, 1917, Charles arrived in England and was disembarked in Plymouth then the same day, was sent to Sutton Mandeville Camp, Wiltshire, where he will remain until March 24, when he joined the Pioneers Training Battalion in Fovant and followed intensive training on Salisbury Plains.Eight months later, on November 22, 1917, Charles was sent to Sutton Veny where he completed his training in trench warfare situations as realistic as possible and two months later, on January 1, 1918, embarked with his battalion from Southampton and proceeded overseas for France.

On January 2, 1918, Charles arrived in France and was disembarked at Le Havre then proceeded to join his unit on January 5 and was taken on strength on January 6 and the following month, on February 1, the 2nd Pioneers Battalion was sent to Dranoutre, Belgium, then to Nieppe, France, on March 9, then the battaillon returned to Belgium on March 26 to Wulverghem.

On April 5, 1918, Charles and the men of the 2nd Battalion of the Australian Pioneer were sent to the Somme at Amiens then marched through Poulainville, Allonville, Querrieu, Pont-Noyelles, Franvillers, Baizieux, Warloy-Baillon, then arrived at Millencourt where they built a line extending to Buire and remained in this sector until August 3 then joined Villers-Bretonneux where their role was to strengthen the Australian lines until Warfusée then joined Harbonnieres on August 16.

A few weeks earlier, on July 16, 1918, Charles was slightly injured, he sprained his left ankle and was admitted to the 7th Australian Field Ambulance on July 17 and returned to his unit on July 18.

On September 1, 1918, Charles and the Second Pioneer Battalion, still in the Somme, were sent to Peronne then to Mont St Quentin but a month later, on October 4, the battalion left the Somme and was transferred the same day to Montbrehain, in the Aisne where, for the first time, the 2nd Australian Pioneer Battalion served as a fighting unit (as an infantry unit) and the next day,on October 5, 1918, at 6:05 am, Charles and his comrades attacked the village but unfortunately Charles met his fate and was killed during the assault by a shell wound in the head, he was 21 years old.

Sadly Charles was killed in the last battle of the Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front, the following month,on November 11, 1918, the war ended.

After his death, it was confirmed that Charles was buried by the Americans in the Montbrehain Military Cemetery but after the war his grave was lost and Charles' body was never found. Charles's name is today remembered and honored with respect on the walls of the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, alongside the names of 10,885 Australian soldiers who fought in the Somme and northern France and who have no known graves.
Charles, you who were at the dawn of a life, in the prime of your life, it is with courage that for Australia and for France you responded to the call to duty to do your part in this great war which consumed the world but with determination, despite your young age, you did not hesitate for a single moment to give your heart in the battle, in a war which was to put an end to all the wars and alongside your brothers, your friends, you walked with bravery through the battlefields of Belgium and the north of France, through the poppies and the trenches of the Somme in which flowed so much blood and tears through the horrors, the pains and the sufferings of the no man's land on which were mowed down a whole generation of heroes to whom we owe so much and on these now peaceful fields, we remember with respect the bravery and the sacrifices that so many men who came from so far paid for the peace and freedom in which we live, we remember with love Australia, our brave Diggers who here in the Somme, fought with admirable determination and never backed down despite what they endured and crossed in the barbed wire and the battlefields of Amiens, Villers -Bretonneux, Pozieres, Flers, Gueudecourt, Peronne, and who today rest in peace on these soils of France under the rows of their white graves and who watch over these land of remembrance for which they did and gave so much.In the trenches, in blood and a deep mud, these young men who were barely 20 years old sacrificed their youth and their innocence of their childish hearts and under the shells, under the bullets, they became men who stood with an exceptional bravery and who were united in the mateship which gave them the strength and the courage to move forward, to go always further, deeper through the enemy lines at the cost of appalling losses but they never gave up the fight, they never gave up France with whom, in the trenches, in blood and bravery, forged a strong friendship, Diggers and Poilus fought together.A French soldier wrote "I have never seen soldiers as brave as the Australians".The French Prime Minister, George Clemenceau declared on July 7, 1918 "When the Australians came to France, the French people expected a great deal of you.We knew that you would fight a real fight, but we did not know that from the very beginning you would astonish the whole continent.I shall go back tomorrow and say to my countrymen, I have seen the Australians, I have looked in their faces, I know that these men will fight alongside of us again until the cause for which we are all fighting is safe for us and for our children".and this is what they did alongside us, they fought like lions until victory, until peace but thousands of young Australians never returned home, they found here, in the peaceful fields of poppies, their last resting places.They were young, they were brave and did their duty with honor, loyalty and devotion, not only for their country which they made proud, they fought and gave their lives for a better world, so that we remain united in peace for which they fell.More than a hundred years have passed, machine guns and cannons, barbed wire have disappeared, the scars of war, under the traces of the old trenches on which the roses grow, allow us to observe and understand the past but the men who lived and fell here, their memory and their stories will never fade and it is with honor and pride that I would always watch over them so that their names may live on forever and may forever shine in the flame of remembrance that I would always carry high and proud so that they will never be forgotten.Thank you so much Charles,for everything.With all my heart.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.

I would also like, from the bottom of my heart, to thank Charles Henry Linford's great niece, Lesley Watson, who very kindly asked me for a photo of Charles's name at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux.