Cavalla Isaac GREY

GREY, Cavalla Isaac

Service Number: 3769
Enlisted: 9 August 1915, Melbourne, Victoria
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 46th Infantry Battalion
Born: Jamestown, St Helena, May 1889
Home Town: Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria
Schooling: Good Boys School, St Helena
Occupation: Farmer/labourer
Died: Wounds, 12th Australian Field Ambulance in Becourt Wood, The Somme, France, 12 August 1916
Cemetery: Becourt Military Cemetery
Grave I. V. 29 Personal Inscription TIME WILL NEVER EFFACE HIS MEMORY
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

9 Aug 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3769, Melbourne, Victoria
23 Nov 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3769, 6th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: ''
23 Nov 1915: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 3769, 6th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Melbourne
12 Aug 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3769, 46th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3769 awm_unit: 46th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-08-12

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Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From François Berthout

Pte 3769 Cavalla Isaac Grey
46th Australian Infantry Battalion,
B Company, 12th Brigade,
4th Australian Division
 
In the green fields of the Somme, in solemn and silent rows stand the white graves of a whole generation of men who rest in peace among the poppies and who more than a hundred years ago, in the name of peace and freedom answered the call of duty to preserve humanity from the madness and darkness of a war for which they all volunteered with courage and determination alongside their comrades who served with pride and fought with conviction in the trenches, under the fire of the artillery, under deluges of bullets and shrapnel which split the burning air of this cauldron of hell which were during the great war the fields of the north of France bruised and scarified by the barbed wire, pulverized and plowed by tons of shells through which flowed so much blood, through which charged and fell so many men in the prime of their lives whose only youth was an abominable war and who for us, without regard for their own lives and their own future, gave their today for our tomorrow, for a better world in which we have the privilege of living thanks to their courage and their sacrifices which will never be forgotten. Forever young, they still stand proudly in the eternal shroud of remembrance, in the beauty of the poppies whose blood-red petals remind us every day of the cost of the peace that was transmitted to us and in which I will always watch over these young men, to bring them back to life by telling their stories, by preserving and perpetuating their memory which must be transmitted to future generations so that these heroes who rest in peace live forever.

Today, it is with the deepest gratitude and with the utmost respect that I would like to honor the memory of one of these 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 3769 Cavalla Isaac Grey who fought in the 46th Australian Infantry Battalion,B Company, 12th Brigade, 4th Australian Division, and who died of his wounds 106 years ago, on August 12, 1916 at the age of 27 during the Battle of the Somme.

Cavalla Isaac Grey was born in 1889 in Jamestown, St Helena, and was the son of Charles and Ann Grey, of St Helena, and had a sister, Olive. He was educated at the Good Boys School, St Helena and after graduation, worked as a labourer.

Cavalla enlisted on August 9, 1915 in Melbourne, Victoria, in the 6th Australian Infantry Battalion, 12th Reinforcement, and after a training period of just over two months at Broadmeadows Camp, north of Melbourne, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne,on board HMAT A40 Ceramic on November 23, 1915 and sailed for Egypt.

On February 22, 1916, Cavalla arrived in Egypt and was disembarked at Serapeum but the following month, on March 4, he fell ill and was admitted to the 1st Field Ambulance suffering from Influenza then on March 31, he was transferred and taken on strength in the 46th Australian Infantry Battalion which was involved in the defense of the Suez Canal against the Ottoman forces then on June 2, they joined the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) in Alexandria and proceeded overseas for France on board "Kinsfauns Castle".

On June 8, 1916, after a little less than a week on the Mediterranean Sea, Cavalla arrived in France and was disembarked in Marseilles then the next day, the men of the 46th Battalion embarked by train for Bailleul where they arrived on June 11 and marched into billets at Outtersteene for reorganization and completion of the equipment,then under a particularly cold and humid weather, followed a period of training during which, on June 19, they were inspected by General Sir Herbert Plummer.The next day, the battalion was put through gas test and lacrymotory test followed by Musketry exercises then on July 2, the 46th received orders to move and were sent to Sailly-Sur-La-Lys.

On July 2, 1916 at 7:45 p.m., Cavalla and the 46th Battalion arrived at Sailly-Sur-La-Lys and went into Billets then the next day, entered the trenches two kilometers of Fleurbaix, relieved the 4th Australian Infantry Battalion and fought in this sector with the 13th Australian Infantry Battalion on their left and the 45th Australian Infantry Battalion on their right, the headquarters of the battalion being in a farm called "Wye Farm". In the days that followed, the activity of the enemy was described as "very quiet" despite very active machine gun fire. Several patrols were conducted towards enemy lines and allowed Australian snipers to shoot down several German soldiers. On July 7, they witnessed a courageous act carried out by Sergeants Toleman and Pontin who went over the top to save a wounded man whom they carried on their shoulders under the fire of enemy machine guns and rifles over a distance of 75 yards.From July 8, the Australian artillery became very active in this sector of the front but suffered German counter-battery fire which destroyed several shelters in the Australian lines then on July 11, the battalion was finally relieved by the 56th Australian Infantry Battalion and moved back to Sailly-Sur-La-Lys then to Outtersteene the following day.

On July 14, 1916, Cavalla and his comrades left Outtersteene and went to Bailleul station from where they embarked for the Somme and arrived in Doullens then marched for Berteaucourt-Les-Dames where they were billeted until July 26. The day following, the 46th received the order to move and marched for Herrisart on July 28 and for Vadencourt where they remained until August 1.

On the evening of 1 August 1916 the 46th Battalion marched to "Brickfields", then moved into the front line south of Pozieres and were mainly employed in carrying parties in support of the 2nd Australian Division and took part in the attack on August 4 on Poziere Ridge and in the capture of the Windmill. On July 8, they relieved the 45th Australian Infantry Battalion and were placed in two sectors of the front, the first, including A and B Company on the trench OG1 between "Munster Alley" and Albert-Bapaume Road and the C and D Company in support of "Pozieres Trench" and "Sunken Road".

Unfortunately, it was a few days later, on August 12, 1916, when B Company of the 45th Battalion, including Cavalla, secured the left flank of the 45th Brigade during an attack on the German "Switch Line" that he was seriously wounded and immediately evacuated to the 12th Australian Field Ambulance in Becourt Wood but died of his injuries a few hours later, he was 27 years old.

Today, Cavalla Isaac Grey rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Becourt Military Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "Time will never efface his memory. "

Cavalla, young and proud, it is with patriotism and loyalty that under the flag you answered the call of duty to do your part alongside your comrades and brothers in arms on the battlefields of the great war in the name of peace and freedom to defend and preserve humanity and far from home, determined to do what was right, you walked with your head held high, with conviction in the prime of your life behind the bagpipes and drums through the roads of northern France following in the footsteps of a whole generation of courageous men who, without fear and guided by the ardor of youth, by the desire to fight, moved forward towards their glory, towards their destiny through the fields of poppies and silent valleys still green which, in a few months, in the fury and the burning cauldron of war, became black with mud, scorched by the flames of destruction, pounded, devoured by artillery fire, crushed , plowed by the bites of tons of shells, scarified, bruised forever by barbed wire lines, and were, in the hell of the battles, gorged with blood and tears, open-air mass cemeteries, putrid quagmires poisoned by toxic gases ,fields of death and execution on which nothing and no one could live and for four years of a nameless hell, day after day, thousands of young men fought in these appalling conditions to try to survive one more day but lived as if each day could be the last of their existence being tortured by an invisible fear but present under the mournful and funereal howls of the artillery which tortured their nerves and their minds, in this nightmare many sank into madness fearing never again to see the sun rise on a more peaceful world, fearing never to see their loved ones again but in this inhumanity, in this apocalypse of fire and steel they nevertheless found the strength and the courage to hold fast, this strength, they found it in each other, in the camaraderie which united them, in the brotherhood which brought them together, they found it in the friendship and solidarity that reigned in the ranks of these brave men who shared their doubts and their sufferings but also their dreams and their hopes, hopes for which they fought with so much courage under the bullets and the shells that flew all around them but that they faced valiantly so that one day soon peace would prevail above all and together, in solidarity, friends, fathers and sons, brothers went over the top, they charged bayonets forward in the middle with rains of bullets, among shrapnel and grenades, under walls of steel and bullets, they moved forward without taking a single step back even when they saw their best friends who were pulverized and riddled with bullets.They struggled meter by meter dragging mud under their boots and uniforms and broke through enemy lines but the price of victory and peace was high and when they looked behind them they saw their friends lifeless in the mud, men who a few moments before were full of life, who loved and were loved and who sometimes were unrecognizable and of whom sometimes there was nothing left, not even an identity disc and most of whom have no known graves but whose memory will always be kept alive and strong so that none of them will ever be forgotten. Today, it is in the peace for which they gave their lives that they rest side by side in the cemeteries of the Somme where I will always watch over them with respect and gratitude so that their sacrifices are never forgotten, so that their names live forever. Thank you so much Cavalla, for everything. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember him,we will remember them. 

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Biography

Cavalla Isaac GREY was born in 1889 Jamestown, St Helena which is an island in the Atlantic Ocean (British Overseas Territory)

His parents were Charles & Ann GREY