Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Sgt. Sergeant was engaged in home service with the 8th Field Battery located at Chapel Street, East St Kilda for 3 years, before enlistment in the AIF in August 1915

From François Berthout
 
Today, through the poppy fields of the Somme, we walk, following in the footsteps that led millions of young men to these battlefields on which they shed their blood and gave their lives after having fought with bravery, we walk to understand who these young boys were and what they did here for us, we follow their footsteps and the paths that led them to a life cut short by the fury of war, to put a face and a story behind each of their names who are forever engraved on their graves so that they will never be forgotten and so that their names live forever, and today,it is the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme that I would like to honor with gratitude, I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Serjeant number 6511 Frederick Richard Sergeant who fought in the 4th Brigade of the Australian Field Artillery and who was killed in action 104 years ago, on the 17th november,1916 at the age of 22 on the Somme front.

Frederick Richard Sergeant was born in 1894 in Wellington Street, St Kilda, Victoria, and was the son of William and Margaret Sergeant.Frederick was educated at Punt Road State School, South Yarra, Victoria and before the outbreak of the war he lived with his parents at 29 Donald Street, Prahran, Stonnington, Melbourne, Victoria, where he worked as a warehouseman and served for four years in the 8th Field Battery of the Citizen Military Forces located at Chapel Street, east St Kilda then in the 23rd Battery of the Australian Field Artillery.

Enlisted on August 19, 1915 in Melbourne, Victoria, in the 4th Brigade, Battery 11 of the Australian Field Artillery, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne, on board HMAT A18 Wiltshire on November 18, 1915 and sailed for Suez, Egypt, where he was disembarked on December 15 and proceeded to join the Military Expeditionary Force. A few months later, on March 14, 1916, he joined the British Expeditionary Force in Alexandria and embarked for France.On March 19, Frederick arrived in Marseilles then was sent with his unit to the Somme front where he was slightly wounded for the first time on November 11, 1916 but remained with his comrades.

Sadly, six days later, on November 17, 1916, Frederick met his fate and while in charge of a party of drivers going to the pits at Flers, Somme, a shell fell near him and Frederick was instantly killed, he was 22 years old.

Today,Frederick Richard Sergeant rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at the A.I.F.Burial Ground, Flers, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "In loving memory of our son so loved".

Frederick, you who gave your life here in these fields where poppies bloom, today we bow to you in front of you with respect and with gratitude to express our respect to you, you who were young, you bravely answered the call to duty and fought with admirable courage in these lands of remembrance which saw the blood of so many young men spilled over the red poppies of the battlefields which became bloodbaths in which were drowned a whole generation of men in shell holes, under steel and lead shells and whistling bullets shattered the hopes of men who tried to survive to see again a world in peace and for which they gave all that they had of beautiful and good in them, in a war which took their youth and their innocence in its cruel fingers, in an endless nightmare, under the shells tearing the sky and the ground of thousands lightning and explosions that sent blood and fury flying off their steel helmets and young faces, in a world war that tried to take their humanity away in murderous assaults, they stood united and strong for to hold each meter, they fought for each step forward, for each meter gained in this land of France for which they gave so much at the cost of terrible losses. The Somme was a hell on earth that mowed down the lives of an entire generation of men who faced what they could never have imagined, in the mud and icy trenches infested by rats and vermin, they lived days and night under the incessant bombardment, in a smell of blood and gunpowder, they faced clouds of poisoned gas without being able to move and overcame their fears to come out of the trenches at the whistles of their officers, bayonets forward, running on devastated soils, under machine gun fire and rifles to gain a few meters of land in a country they didn't know much about but for which they did so much.In the trenches, alongside the French soldiers, the Australians forged between our two countries an indestructible friendship, a mutual respect, a friendship which is today, for us who live in the Somme, a great pride and an honor, our flags fly in the wind, side by side under the gaze of men who did not have the chance to return home but who will always have here, a country that will always be theirs and it is under the gaze of our united countries that I would always watch with deep respect over your loved ones that I always visit with great emotion, very often with tears in my eyes but also and always with a heart full of gratitude and love for each of them who rest in peace here, together, across the poppy fields and I will do all I can to make their memories, their stories known to all, so that these men are never forgotten and so that they are always respected and honored for who they were and for what they are for me in my heart, my sons, my boys of the Somme, my heroes for whom I would always be present. Thank you Frederick, with gratitude and with all my love for you and your comrades who paid the greatest of sacrifices and for the peace we live in today thanks to you.Your names will live on forever. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.