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From François Berthout

Pte 4020 William Stanley Bull 
32nd Australian Infantry Battalion,
C Company, 9th Platoon,
8th Brigade, 5th Australian Division,
 
On this eve of ANZAC Day, a new spring day dawns over the Somme and silently the sun sets in its light the rows of thousands of white graves behind which stand proud and solemn a whole generation of young men who came from the other side of the world to do their duty alongside their comrades and their brothers in arms who served valiantly in the name of peace and freedom on the soil of a friendly country that they knew little but for which they did and gave so much in the mud and blood of the trenches where they lived and died united forever in the mateship that guided them to do what was right. in peace we honor their memory, united we remember them who came together to defend the values of humanity and to allow us to have a tomorrow, a future, a better world.Gone but not and never forgotten, they live by our side today, in the white cities of the Somme in which I will always walk with respect and gratitude to honor the memory of these young boys so that their names and their stories live forever through our hearts and through the flame of remembrance that I will always carry high and proud for them.

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 4020 William Stanley Bull who fought in the 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion, C Company, 9th Platoon, 8th Brigade, 5th Australian Division, and who was killed in action 104 years ago, on April 24, 1918 at the age of 24 on the Somme front.

William Stanley Bull, who was very affectionately called "Stan", was born in 1893 in Bairnsdale, Gippsland State, Victoria, and was the son of George Bull and Mary-Ann Bull (née Ingram), of Kulin, Narrogin, Western Australia and who married in 1878 in Victoria. William had three brothers, Charles James, George Joseph, Horace Sydney, and a sister, Rosina Annie Amelia. He was educated at Bairnsdale State School and after graduation, became an apprentice saddler for nine months for Mr William Oliver in Victoria then served for two years in the Bairnsdale School Cadets and worked as a farmer.

William enlisted on May 15, 1916 in Perth, Western Australia, in the 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion, C Company, 10th Reinforcement, battalion whose motto was "Audax Pro Patria" (Bold For The Country) and under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Donald Coghill .After a five-month training period at Blackboy Hill Training Camp, he embarked with his unit from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A16 Port Melbourne on October 28, 1916 and sailed for England.

On December 28, 1916, William arrived in England and was disembarked at Folkestone then joined the 8th Training Battalion at Hurdcott Camp, near Fovant, Wiltshire, and three months later, on March 28, 1917, embarked from Folkestone and proceeded overseas for France.

On March 29, 1917, after a quick trip up the English Channel, William arrived in France and was disembarked at Etaples where he joined the 5th Australian Divisional Base Depot, marched out to unit on March 31 and was taken on strength in the 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion on April 2 in the Somme, at Gueudecourt, in a position known as "Rose Trench" which they occupied until April 7. The next day the battalion left Gueudecourt and moved to a camp located in an orchard at Grevillers, Pas- De-Calais, and where the men were mainly employed in road works until April 15. The following day the 32nd Battalion marched to Haplincourt where the men dug and fortified six strongpoints defended by machine guns and lines of barbed wire but this was a relatively quiet sector of the front and no enemy attacks were reported.

On April 22, 1917, the battalion joined the Darwin Camp at Haplincourt where the men rested and were employed in the cleaning of the camp and their equipment then followed a period of training including the practice of attack in platoon and exercises of musketry and stayed here until May 7.

On May 8, 1917, William and his comrades marched to the small village of Vaulx, Pas-De-Calais, with a force of 1,064 men who joined Lagnicourt on May 13 and took part in the pursuit operations of the retreating German army on the Hindenburg line.
Lagnicourt was the scene of fierce fighting in March and April 1917. When the Germans withdrew to the Hindenburg Line in March and the British and dominion forces advanced rapidly in their wake but as they neared the Hindenburg Line they were confronted by well-prepared rearguard forces, which were only removed after difficult fights. One such action took place at Lagnicourt between 26 and 27 March. Closing with the Hindenburg Line, the British lost no time in launching a major offensive around Arras. This left their line weak in several places, including Lagnicourt. Aware of this weakness, the Germans launched a counter-stroke in the Lagnicourt area at dawn on 15 April, utilising 23 battalions. Their aim was not to permanently recapture the territory, but merely to hold it for a day and capture or destroy all the equipment and supplies they found there. They rapidly occupied Lagnicourt and captured several batteries of the 1st Australian Division's artillery. A vigourous counter-attack by four Australian battalions just after 7 am recaptured the village and most of the guns, and forced a premature German withdrawal.

After Lagnicourt, the 32nd Battalion marched into Billets in Bapaume on May 25, 1917 and followed a new training period which ended on June 16 then moved back to the Somme, more precisely to Varennes and marched to the "W2 Central Camp" at Martinsart where they arrived the next day and followed physical exercises, including many military marches, including one in Thiepval, a high place of the Battle of the Somme.

On July 30, 1917, William and the 32nd Battalion left Martinsart and the Somme for Racquinghem, Pas-De-Calais which they reached the following day and where they remained until September 16. The following day, they marched for Steenvoorde then for Wippenhoek, near Poperinge in Belgium and on September 26, were heavily involved in the Battle of Polygon Wood, during the Third Battle of Ypres, in which the 32nd Battalion played a major role.
The area captured on September 20, 1917 at the Battle of Menin Road had been churned up by the shells of both sides and, before massed artillery and other supplies could be moved forward, roads had to be built. Plank roads for heavy traffic, light railways, mule-tracks, and even a short experimental length of monorail, were quickly constructed. Building supply routes was essential work for the success of the "bite and hold" operations.
Australian forces involved in the Polygon Wood battle were the Fourth and Fifth Divisions, which as well as the infantry included artillery, engineers, medical personnel and the hundreds of men involved in supply and transport. All essential war material had to be brought forward by wagons along roads and tracks exposed to heavy shelling. Horses and drivers suffered greatly. While a cratered road was repaired, drivers had to sit and wait, controlling their horses as the shells fell around them. Charles Bean, Australia’s official historian, wrote of these men:
"They belonged to the finest class their nation produced, unassuming, country-bred men. They waited steadily until the break was repaired or some shattered wagon or horses dragged from the road, and then continued their vital work. No shell-fire could drive them from their horses. The unostentatious efficiency and self-discipline of these steadfast men was as fine as any achievement of Australians in the war."

The name Polygon Wood derived from a plantation forest that lay along the axis of the Australian advance on September 26, 1917. Shelling had reduced the wood to little more than stumps and broken timber. The planned attack was almost derailed by a German attack 24 hours earlier on British troops holding the line to the south of the Fifth Division. Australians, scheduled to attack the next morning, helped to fend off the Germans, but there was some concern about the possible weakness of this flank during the upcoming operation.

The British artillery barrage, which commenced at 5.50 on September 26, just as the Polygon plateau became visible, was described by Charles Bean as:
"The most perfect that ever protected Australian troops. It seemed to break out … with a single crash. The ground was dry, and the shell-bursts raised a wall of dust and smoke which appeared almost to be solid. So dense was the cloud that individual bursts … could not be distinguished. Roaring, deafening, it rolled ahead of the troops "like a Gippsland bushfire".

Seven divisions, five British and two Australian, advanced behind the screen of shells, the "creeping barrage" as it was known and seized most of their objectives. In the south, despite the previous day’s problems, the Australians reached not only their own objectives but those allocated to neighboring British units. The Germans launched several counter-attacks but these were thwarted by the heavy defensive artillery barrages used to protect the infantry consolidating their objectives. The Battle of Polygon Wood cost 5,770 Australian casualties.

On October 1, 1917, William and the 32nd Battalion were relieved from the front line of Polygon Wood by the 9th Battalion of the Leinster Regiment and marched to Dickebush and then to Wippenhoek the next day where they remained until October 7 and then joined Ypres on October 9. Later the same day they entered the front line at Zonnebeke in an area called "Celtic Wood" where they fought until October 13 then marched to Chateau Segard the next day and arrived at Ottawa Camp on October 15 but stayed there for a short time. On October 18, the battalion marched to Zillebeke Camp, near Ypres, were sent in support of "ANZAC Ridge" from October 22 to 25, then moved back to Chateau Segard and on October 27 were sent to Montreal Camp, near Ouderdom.

On November 1, 1917, the 32nd Battalion marched to Halifax Camp located in Ouderdom and two weeks later, on November 12, were sent to Locre. Two days later, on November 14, the battalion joined Messines as a Support Battalion where they relieved the 16th Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps but at the end of the month, William fell ill and was admitted to the 8th Australian Field Ambulance then to the 5th Dressing Station suffering from trench feet.
After recovering quickly, William rejoined his unit on December 4, 1917 in the trenches of Messines where he fought until December 8. The next day, the 32nd Battalion, once again as a Reserve Battalion entered the front line in Wulverghem where the men fought with great courage until December 15 and then the next day, joined Desvres, near Boulogne in the Pas-De-Calais where they remained for a little over a month.

On February 1, 1918, William and the 32nd Battalion marched to the front line at Gapaard, near Warneton where they relieved the 11th Australian Infantry Battalion but this area is described as "very quiet, the enemy is almost totally inactive".On February 22, the battalion moved back to Wulvergem, near Messines in a supporting role and just over two weeks later, on March 7, William was granted leave in England.
Unfortunately, on March 21, 1918, the German army launched its spring offensive, its last offensive in an attempt to break through the Allied front and on March 25 William returned to the front at Gable Camp in Wulverghem but soon orders were received to go in the Somme and on March 28, the 32nd Battalion arrived by train at Doullens then marched through Vauchelles-Les-Domart, Louvencourt, Daours, Bois De Gentelles, Blangy-Tronville and took up positions on the front line at Hamelet on April 10. Two weeks later, on April 23, the battalion marched to Corbie in reserve lines where unfortunately the next day William met his fate and was killed in action by a shell, he was 24 years old.

The circumstances leading to William's death are documented in the Australian Red Cross Society Wounded And Missing Inquiry Bureau Files and Lance Corporal Number 3891 Norman Arthur Taylor, 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion wrote:
"I have been in the same gun team as William ever since he came to France. He was killed instantaneously, and he never spoke after he was hit. A small piece of shell went right through his head,so he wasn't knocked about too bad. He was buried on the field and we left one of his identification disc tied around his neck,and also put a nice big cross over his grave. Needless to say how well liked the poor boy was by all who knew him."

Today, William Stanley Bull rests in peace at Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "Dearly loved"
William, you who were in the prime of your life, it was by listening to your heart that you answered the call of duty and that you marched with determination under the rising sun of Australia to join your brothers, your comrades for proudly wear the colors and values that united a whole generation of young men who, side by side, with faith and convictions, volunteered to do their part on the battlefields of the great war and who, together, in the trenches of Belgium and northern France did so much more than was asked of them.They were young and left behind the happiness of their homes, the love of their loved ones, of their families, the comfort of a life full of promise to be with their mates, to do what was right,and shoulder to shoulder, through the despair of the trenches, their feet and knees deep in the mud, they found in each other the courage and the strength to hold on, the determination and the bravery of the young and strong Australian nation which fought with loyalty and honor for peace and freedom.In camaraderie and guided by the Anzac spirit, these young men overcame their fears and bayonets forward, they followed their fathers, their officers and charged valiantly under deluges of bullets and shells that transformed fields and towns once peaceful in putrid quagmires strewn with shell holes in which flowed the tears and the blood of innocent young men who thought they would live the greatest adventure of their lives but through the barbed wire they found death and fury, they discovered a world in flames that descended into madness and chaos.Trapped in the maelstrom of terror that was their war, they endured storms of fire and steel day and night with nowhere to hide or run, their hearts beating to the rhythm of drums and their legs trembling, they resisted and faced their destinies, they shared the pains and sufferings but they never backed down, they remained strong and determined so that this war put an end to all wars and carried together on their shoulders and in their hearts the hopes of all freedom-loving peoples.In the hell of Polygon Wood and Passchendaele thousands of them fell, swept away by deadly machine gun fire but they stood, they fought with unwavering courage, for their friends who suffered with them but also for those who fell behind them, to honor their memory, they moved forward with the deep desire to serve and fight until the end of this nightmare and alongside their French brothers, they fought like lions in the Somme. In Gueudecourt, in Pozieres, in Amiens they wrote history, they were loved and admired by the people of France who did not forget the determination and bravery of the Diggers who walked through the villages and poppy fields with a smile benevolent on their faces which remained engraved forever in the hearts of the children, women and men of the Somme who adopted these young boys as their sons and as the sons of France who fought and gave their lives for us. Over a hundred years have passed, war has given way to peace but the love and friendship we feel for these young men and for the Australian people has never ceased to grow and live on in us and tomorrow, it is with great pride, with honor that I would join my Australian friends in Villers-Bretonneux for ANZAC Day, to express my gratitude and my country's gratitude to them and to tell them that with pride and respect, I would always watch over their loved ones, on my boys of the Somme for whom I would give my today and my life so that their memory never fades. Thank you so much William, for everything. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.