Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout, Australia and New Zealand in WWI

Today, it is with great gratitude and deep respect that I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 311 Joseph Owen Evans who fought in the 26th Australian Infantry Battalion and who was killed in action 104 years ago,on August 3, 1916 at the age of 27 on the battlefields of the Somme.

Joseph Owen Evans was born on October 31, 1888 in Charters Towers, Queensland and was the son of Joseph Evans of 18, Bartley Street, Brisbane,Queensland. Before the war,Joseph was single, worked as a labourer and lived in Logan Road, Dunellan , Brisbane, Queensland.

Enlisted on March 13, 1915 at Murwillumbah, New South Wales, in the 26th Australian Infantry Battalion, B Company, he embarked with his unit from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A11 Ascanius on May 24, 1915 for the Gallipoli peninsula where he served and suffered from jaundice and was evacuated to the military hospital in Heliopolis, Egypt. Joseph then embarked from Alexandria, Egypt on March 15, 1916 for France where he was disembarked in Marseilles on March 21, 1916 and joined his unit on Somme front.
Unfortunately, four months later, on August 3, 1916, while he was part of a working party in Pozieres with twelve of his comrades to build a sap under the command of Sergeant John McGuiness, the Germans opened fire with their artillery who wounded seven of the twelve men and killed Joseph who received near him a very large explosive shell.

Today, Joseph Owen Evans rests in peace in Pozieres British Cemetery with his comrades and brothers in arms.
Joseph had a sister who wrote these few words for him which were published in the Brisbane Telegraph on November 1, 1916:
"Though far from home and kindred,
And friends who wished him well,
His memory is with us, And will for ever dwell.
And whilst the sad years vanish, His name we'll oft recall;
And proudly we will cherish His photo on the wall."

As the years pass, Joseph, your memory, never fades, with respect in our hearts and in our thoughts, you will always be honored, under the sun that lights your name on your white grave, your name and your memory will live forever, in silence, in Remembrance.Of those battlefields in which you fought, today only the scars reminding us every day of your sufferings, your courage and your sacrifice, today, the poppies bloom on the old trenches, on the shell holes, in these fields in which silence reigns, the whistling of bullets and the infernal noise of shells has disappeared but your memory and the memory of your comrades, of all your brothers in arms will never fade.Today I walk in your footsteps, I walk through the ranks of your graves as one of the keepers of your memory to understand, to know who you were and what you have done for us and to transmit the story of each of you who rest in peace here, in the fields and the peaceful and flowery cemeteries of the Somme which will never forget, you who were young and whom the war has broken, your memory will be cherished with the utmost respect to make you live again, through us, all united to protect the peace that you have paid with your life. We will always be grateful to you. Thank you for what you have done for us Joseph, you will never be forgotten.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.🌺

"EVANS.— Killed in action, in France, 3rd August, 1916, Private J. O. Evans, aged 27 years 10 months.

Though far from home and kindred, And friends who wished him well,

His memory is with us, And will for ever dwell. 

And whilst the sad years vanish, His name we'll oft recall;

And proudly we will cherish His photo on the wall. Inserted by his loving sisters, J. Hosmer and D. Evans." - from the Brisbane Telegraph 01 Nov 1916 (nla.gov.au)