Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout

Pte 6860 Harold Vernon McVittie
23rd Australian Infantry Battalion,
6th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division

In the fields of the Somme, the poppies stand in red waves on the old trenches in which fought, lived and fell a whole generation of men who, for their country and for France, gave their today and their lives and who today today, in silence and in peace, still stand side by side united in an eternal camaraderie which gathered them more than a hundred years ago around just causes on the battlefields of the great war and fought together alongside their brothers in arms for the peace and freedom in which we live but which was paid for by the blood and sacrifices of millions of men, many of whom found on the sacred grounds of the Somme, after so much fury, tears and suffering, peace and eternal rest behind the shadows of their white graves which tell us the stories of these heroes who for us gave their all and on whom I will always watch with gratitude and respect for may they never be forgotten, to tell who they were and what they did for us so that their names and their memory live on forever.

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 6860 Harold Vernon McVittie who fought in the 23rd Australian Infantry Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division, and who was killed in action 104 years ago, on June 10, 1918 at the age of 29 on the Somme front.

Harold Vernon McVittie was born in 1889 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, and was the son of George and Selina McVittie. Before the outbreak of the war he attended the Adelaide Street Wesleyan Council School. He was an orchidist by trade and trained as a fish, games and poultry dealer and worked for Mr Henry Heap, of Messrs Clarke And Heap, of Blackpool. He married Kate McVittie, lived at 476, Field Street, Bradley, England then emigrated on January 10, 1913 to Australia and lived in Kyvalley, Victoria where he worked as a orchidist.

Harold enlisted on February 2, 1917 in Melbourne, Victoria, in the 23rd Australian Infantry Battalion, 19th Reinforcement under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Morton. After a training period of just over two months at Broadmeadows Camp, near Melbourne ,Harold embarked with his unit from Melbourne, on board HMAT A11 Ascanius on May 11, 1917 and sailed for England.

On July 20, 1917, Harold arrived in England and was disembarked at Devonport then joined the 6th Training Battalion at Rollestone, on Salisbury Plain and after four months of training in war conditions as realistic as possible he embarked from Southampton on December 4 and proceeded overseas for France.
After a very short Channel voyage, Harold arrived in France on December 5, 1917 and was disembarked at Le Havre where he joined the 2nd Australian Divisional Base Depot the same day, marched out to unit on December 9 and was taken on strenght with the 23rd Australian Infantry Battalion on December 11 at camp "Wakefield Huts" at Locre, Belgium.On December 15, the 23rd Battalion, still in Locre moved to "Canteen Corner Camp" where they remained until January 12, 1918.

On January 13, 1918, Harold and the 23rd Battalion moved to "Catacombs" (Hyde Park Corner), Ploegsteert Wood, in the Ypres salient where the men were mainly employed in working parties and consolidated the trenches of this sector then on January 27 , were relieved by the 38th Australian Infantry Battalion and marched to Aldershot Camp then on February 1, were sent by train to Guesques, Pas-De-Calais for a period of training and moved back to Ploegsteert Wood on March 7 but two weeks later, on March 21, 1918, in a desperate attempt to break through the Franco-British lines, the German army launched its spring offensive with the main objective of capturing the vital railway junction at Amiens and then cutting Paris from the Channel Ports before the Americans arrived in decisive numbers and on April 5, the 23rd Australian Infantry Battalion was sent to the Somme to stop them.

On April 5, 1918, Harold and the 23rd Battalion arrived in the Somme, at Vaux-En-Amienois then marched through Bertangles, La Houssoye, Franvillers, Baizieux, Hennencourt and arrived at Lavieville later the same day and relieved the left sector of the 46th and 48th Australian Infantry Battalion with the support of the 22nd Australian Infantry Battalion on their right and the Norfolk Regiment on their left then the men of the 23rd Battalion occupied the "Pioneere Trench" and came under heavy enemy artillery fire including gas shells but also faced the very active enemy snipers in this sector and were finally relieved on April 11 by the 24th Australian Infantry Battalion then moved to Millencourt for a few days of rest.
On April 25, 1918, during the victorious Australian counter-attack at Villers-Bretonneux, the 23rd Battalion moved back to the trenches they had previously occupied at Lavieville and fought in this sector until May 1, when they were relieved by the 1/17th London Regiment then moved to Warloy-Baillon via Hennencourt where Harold and his comrades received a hot meal and hot drinks served by units of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association).

On May 9, 1918, the 23rd Battalion marched into billets at Mericourt where the men followed a training period which ended on May 19 and the next day joined Ville-Sur-Ancre where they relieved New Zealand units and entered a position known as "Emu Support Line" near the Ancre River then the next day marched to the small village of Bonnay where they bivouacked until May 30 and relieved the 26th Australian Infantry Battalion at Buire the following day.
On June 1, 1918, the 23rd Battalion joined the trenches of the Buire sector, on the Amiens-Albert front line with the support of the 21st Australian Infantry Battalion on their right and the 1/24th London Regiment on their left and were heavily bombarded by enemy artillery, mainly with gas shells. A few days later, on June 9, the 23rd joined the Ribemont sector where they occupied several trenches including the "Tasmania Line" and the "Derwent Trench" but unfortunately, the next day , on June 10, during a raid on the German trenches led by 3 officers, Lieutenants Lowe, Smith, Campbell and 60 other ranks in front of Ribemont, Harold met his fate and was killed in action, he was 29 years old.

Today, Harold Vernon McVittie rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at the Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "He died in honour that I might live."

After his death, Harold's obituary was published as follows:
"Private Harold Vernon McVittie was one of four sons of the late Mr.George McVittie.All of Whom served with H.M forces.Seven years ago he sailed for Australia,after a time he obtained a position as groom gardener to J.Smith Esq,"Berrington" East Kew.Later he worked as an orchidist for J.G. Wall Esq, Kyvalley.From there he joined the A.I.F. He was devoted to duty, he also had a bright and cheerful disposition,and his willingness won for him a warm place in the hearts of all who knew him.He belonged to an old well know and respected Blackpool family,his father at one time held an important position in the Town Hall,while his uncle Alderman Joseph Heap at one time Mayor of Blackpool was some years ago presented with the "Freedom of that Town".

Harold, it's been more than a hundred years since the great war ended but your memory, your name and your courage have never ceased to live and today we remember you with emotion and gratitude for who you were but also for all that you did for us who have the privilege of living thanks to you, thanks to your bravery and your sacrifice, to the sacrifices of your comrades and brothers in arms alongside whom you answered the call of duty and with whom you fought in the trenches, through the poppy fields of the Somme on which were shed the tears and blood of a whole generation of young men who stood with honor and bravery in front of the machine guns which spat rains of bullets on the no man's land, on lunar soils which were once green and silent but which, under tons of shells, were transformed into fields of death and which forever changed the face of the world under torrents of blood.in darkness and madness, these young men were snatched, chopped and crushed but they never backed down, they never surrendered and fought like lions in a bond of camaraderie that nothing broke and found in each other, in this sacred bond, the strength, the determination and the courage to hold the line. Together they faced their fears and shared the doubts, the sufferings and the tears, but also the hopes, the dreams, they supported each other like brothers and moved forward Shoulder to shoulder through hurricanes of fire and steel, they fought for the men who stood by their side and charged bayonets forward under the dark sky, into the putrid deep mud scarred by the barbed wire, they charged with determination ,for their war to end all wars,for peace and freedom,for the future of their children and humanity but in this hell on earth,in this endless nightmare,these young men who confidently left their homes and thought they would live the greatest adventure of their lives lost their innocence in battles that were as brave as they were deadly and saw their friends, their brothers being shredded by the bites of steel, they saw them being pulverized by the artillery, they saw them, helpless, suffocating under the poison gas and had to live with death day and night, in the the smell of gunpowder and blood that drew the rats into the gloomy trenches above which the endless symphony of thousands of guns played, working endlessly to destroy the world and men.They were young but so brave and by their actions made their families and their country proud, but many of them did not have the chance to see their families again and in the fields of Pozières, Amiens and Villers-Bretonneux, found peace and eternal rest under the shadows of their white graves between which poppies grow and which are the eternal symbol of their courage and their sacrifices that we will never forget.For us they came from the other side of the world aware of what they risked and sacrificed their youth so that we could live, they gave their today, their lives to give us a future, a better world that we must protect to honor their memory and their sacrifices.Proud and united they stand in the eternal remembrance that binds us to them in the light in which they will never cease to live and in which I will always watch over them so that they are never forgotten and so that the memory of these young men, of my boys of the Somme live forever. Thank you so much Harold,for everything. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.