Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Alexander Blyth and Jane Balmain of Semaphore Book/Page 309/489. Brother of John Anderson Blyth and Thomas McLaren Blyth

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

From François Berthout

Fitter Cpl 3047 Oswald Dunnikier (Ossie) Blyth
3rd Field Artillery Brigade of the Australian Field Artillery
 
Today, under the sun and the serene silence of the old battlefields of the Somme, stand the thousands of graves of a whole generation of young men who here, in the mud of the trenches, served and fought with bravery and who, alongside their friends and comrades, gave their lives for their country and for France for which they did and gave so much and always side by side, united in the Remembrance and the comradeship that unites them, they rest in peace among the poppies on whom so much blood and tears were shed and which are today the symbol of their lives, their courage and their sacrifice.They were young and behind their names on their graves, in our hearts and in our thoughts, they will live forever.
Today, it is with gratitude and respect that I would like to honor the memory of one of these men, one of my boys of the Somme who fought and gave his life so that we can have a tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Fitter Corporal number 3047 Oswald Dunnikier (Ossie) Blyth who fought in the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade of the Australian Field Artillery and who died of his wounds 103 years ago, on May 25, 1918 at the age of 34 on the Somme front.

Oswald Dunnikier (Ossie) Blyth was born on August 13, 1883 in Birkenhead, South Australia, and was the son of Alexander Blyth and Jane Blyth (née Balmain), of Semaphore, South Australia.Oswald was educated at Le Fevre Peninsula Public School , South Australia, and after graduation he served in the Fremantle Mounted Infantry then worked as a farmer and lived in Pingelly, Western Australia.

Oswald enlisted on August 17, 1914 in Blackboy Hill, South Australia, as Artificer in the 1st Divisional Ammunition Column of the Australian Field Artillery and after a two month training period at Blackboy Hill Training Camp he embarked with his unit from Fremantle , Western Australia, on board HMAT A7 Medic on November 2, 1914 and joined the MEF (Mediterranean Expeditionary Force) at Gallipoli on April 30, 1915 where he fought with courage then two months later, on June 18, 1915, he was sent to Cleopatra Camp , Egypt, where he was transferred to the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade Ammunition Column on June 18, 1915.

Nine months later, on March 23, 1916, Oswald embarked with his unit from Alexandria, Egypt, and proceeded overseas for France and was disembarked at Marseilles on March 29 and two months later, on May 15, 1916, he was transferred to the 1st Divisional Ammunition Column and eight months later, on January 24, 1917, was transferred and taken on strength in the Army Field Artillery Brigade Ammunition Column and fought courageously in Belgium in the Westoutre and Reninghelst sector and was promoted to the rank of Fitter Corporal on September 5, 1917.

Seven months later, in April 1918, Oswald and his unit were sent to the Somme front to stop the German spring offensive of 1918 which aimed to break through the Allied lines and take the vital railway junction of the town of Amiens then to charge for Paris but they were definitively stopped in Villers-Bretonneux on April 25.

Unfortunately, it was in the Somme that a month later, on May 25, 1918, Oswald met his fate.
on May 22, 1918 while he was resting at Querrieu Camp located behind the castle of Querrieu which in 1916 was the headquarters of the 4th British Army under the orders of General Henry Seymour Rawlinson who planned the Somme offensive of the 1st July 1916 then in 1917 was occupied by Sir William Ridell Birdwood, commandant of the Australian Corps on the Western front.on May 22, 1918, an air attack took place and several German planes dropped bombs, one of which hit Oswald's tent which was seriously wounded in the head and shoulder, this attack killed several men and 50 horses. Oswald was immediately evacuated to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station in Vignacourt, Somme, but despite the greatest care from the medical officers, he died of his wounds three days later, on May 25, 1918, he was 34 years old.
Today, Fitter Corporal Oswald Dunnikier Blyth rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Vignacourt British Cemetery, Somme.

Oswald Dunnikier Blyth had a brother who also fought during the first world war, Gunner number 28704 John Anderson Blyth who fought in the 12th Field Artillery Brigade of the Australian Field Artillery.

John survived the war and returned to Australia on March 21, 1919.

Oswald, you who fought with the greatest courage alongside your comrades on all fronts, in Gallipoli, in Belgium and here in France in the Somme and who, for your country, for France, gave your life, I would like today, from the bottom of my heart to say thank you for all that you have done for us and for the peace in which we live thanks to you and all your brothers in arms who served and who gave their lives on red fields of poppies undulating across the fields and growing in silence between the rows of your graves behind which stand tall and proud, smiling and forever young, a whole generation of men who shed their blood in the mud of the trenches and battlefields which saw so many lives lost under the fire of artillery and machine guns which mowed down men in the prime of their lives and who nevertheless, without hesitation, with courage and determination, answered the call to duty to do their part and came together, united under the same causes for which they would fight the good fight so that future generations can live in a world in peace and side by side, smiling and singing, determined and animated by their convictions and by the pride of serving their country, they walked towards their destinies, towards the trenches, ready to give everything to put an end to all the wars.United in the trenches, under the storms of steel and fire, they held their positions by being united to each other in the most beautiful of comradeship and despite the horrors they experienced and which remained etched in their eyes and their heart, they always kept their heads high and had within themselves the certainty of doing what was right, in the face of the fields of death which surrounded them, they remained strong and acted with humanity and defied the dangers and the death by keeping on their young faces , their smiles and their sense of humor and under fire they fought with honor, they fought like lions and nothing stopped them, neither the fire of the thousands of cannons that poured out death and destruction, nor the rains of bullets that enemy machine guns spit out at an endless rate.Under the deadly gases, under the endless bombardments which destroyed every inch of land in gigantic explosions which transformed peaceful landscapes into death zones, nothing broke the courage of these men who fought in the mud and the cold and who, despite the difficulties, and the death which struck everywhere, they never took a step back and held the line and it is together, side by side, comrades, friends, brothers, fathers that they made their country proud and went over the top and moved forward through the fields of barbed wire and the crossfire of the machine gunners, charging towards the enemy with their bayonets forward, they saw their friends who fell under the weight of their bags, hit hard by rains of bullets under which they collapsed, wounded and lifeless, they paid the supreme sacrifice and one by one gave their lives on these fields where countless crosses of wood soon grew and which today, under their white graves, continue to tell us the story of their life and their war, always standing united and proud as they were in the trenches and on the battlefields where they fought and gave their lives and where they rest in peace but the war has not stopped their lives because more than a hundred years have passed and behind their names, they do not cease to live, they transmit their stories to us, their lives in our hands so that we may bring them back to life and remember them by carrying high and proud the torch which they passed on to us and which I would always carry high and proud so that they will never be forgotten and so that their names, their stories live forever.Thank you so much Oswald,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember him, we will remember them.