Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of John and Elizabeth BOGG of Oakey, Qld.

From François Berthout

Pte 3687 Walter Bogg
49th Australian Infantry Battalion,
13th Brigade, 4th Australian Division
 
Through the fields of the Somme, formerly fields of death scarified by barbed wire and steel bites, the songs of birds are heard today through poppies and serene cemeteries where rest in peace, united in the eternity and silence, thousands of young men who here, over a hundred years ago, served side by side with pride and who gave their lives, their today so that we can have a tomorrow in which we are united to remember them, so that we can honor the memory of these men who did and gave so much for us and who will never cease to live.

Today, it is with deep gratitude and respect that I would like to honor the memory of one of these men, one of my boys of the Somme.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 3687 Walter Bogg who fought in the 49th Australian Infantry Battalion, 13th Brigade, 4th Australian Division, and who died of his wounds 103 years ago, on August 14, 1918 at the age of 21 on the Somme front.

Walter Bogg was born on September 2, 1896 in Benowa, Queensland, Australia, and was the son of John and Elizabeth Bogg, of Yargullen, Oakey, Queensland.Walter was educated at Woodview State School, Queensland, then served three months in the Australian Militia and lived in Happy Valley via Oakey, Queensland, where he worked as a blacksmith.
Walter enlisted on August 2, 1915 at Toowoomba, Queensland, in the 9th Australian Infantry Battalion, 12th Reinforcement, and after a four month training period, he embarked with his unit from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A50 Itonus on December 30, 1915 and sailed for Egypt.

On February 29, 1916, Walter arrived in Egypt and was disembarked in Zeitoun where he joined the 3rd Training Battalion then on March 4 at Tel-El-Kébir, was transferred to the 49th Australian Infantry Battalion which was raised in Egypt on February 27 and whose half of the men were veterans of the Gallipoli campaign and mostly made up of men from Queensland. Three months later, on June 5, 1916, Walter and the 49th Battalion proceeded to join the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) at Alexandria, on board Arcadian then proceeded overseas for France.
After a one week sea voyage without incident, Walter arrived in France on June 12, 1916 and was disembarked in Marseilles and with his unit, marched towards the trenches of the western front in the sector of Rubempré, in the Somme then joined Albert and Tarah Hill on July 8 then marched towards Pozieres which they reached on July 13, ten days before the battle of Pozieres began but did not experience their first major engagement until September 2, 1916 at Mouquet Farm and suffered heavily, particularly in the assault launched on September 3.

After furious fighting at Mouquet Farm, Walter and the 49th Australian Infantry Battalion were relieved on September 5, 1916 by the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion, 3rd Brigade, but from September 2 to 5, the 49th Battalion lost 7 officers killed in action, 75 other ranks killed in action, 7 officers wounded, 294 other ranks wounded and 37 missing.

A month later, on October 1, 1916, Walter and the 49th Australian Infantry Battalion were sent to Reninghelst, Flanders, and joined the Quebec Camp for a period of training and rest until October 25 and a month later, on November 13, returned to the Somme and fought at Flers then on November 27, joined the reserve trenches at Delville Wood.

Two months later, on January 7, 1917, Walter fought in Fricourt and on January 28, again in Flers under very difficult conditions and two months later, after exhausting fighting, he was sent to Mametz to follow a new period of training before being sent to Noreuil where Walter fought with great bravery between April 5 and 7 and was recommended for the Military Medal with the following citation:

"This man is a Signaller attached to Battalion Headquarters and has,with the exception of Messines,been in every action in which the battalion has taken part.The operation in which he displayed conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty was in the attack of the Railway Line North of Noreuil 5/7th April 1917. At great risks and without regard to personal danger,he carried out the duties of a linesman going out no fewer than ten times in one day to repair telephone lines. The area over which the communications ran was subject to a furious bombardment by the enemy artillery and was also continously swept by machine gun and rifle fire.The fine example of this signaller who is at all times of a cheerful disposition is highly commandable."

On October 1, 1917, Walter was sent to the Steenword area for a period in rest camp and was awarded the Military Medal on October 14, then on October 23, joined the Ypres trenches and on December 19, was granted a leave for England then joined his unit on January 4, 1918 at Moislains, Somme and fought in Dernancourt, on the River Ancre on March 28 then in Corbie in early April, in Vaux-Sur-Somme then Blangy-Tronville from 1 to 21 May then joined the Daours sector in June then Rivery, near Amiens in July.

A month later, on August 8, 1918, the battle of Amiens began and unfortunately, four days later, on August 12, Walter met his fate and was seriously wounded by a gun shot wound to his back in the Bray sector and was evacuated the next day to the 51st Field Ambulance then to the 53rd Casualty Clearing Station in Daours where he died on August 14 and was buried by Reverend Thurlow, he was 21 years old.
Today,Walter Bogg rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at the Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "As long as life and memory last we shall remember thee."

Walter had a brother who courageously served during the first world war, his name was Ernest Bogg, service number 2881A and fought in the 31st Australian Infantry Battalion but unfortunately he was killed in action on September 26, 1917 at Polygon Wood, Ypres, Belgium, he was 23 years old and his body was never found.He is today remembered and honored with respect at the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.

Walter, Ernest, you who were so young, it is with bravery and determination, with valor and honor that you have served and fought with pride for your country, for Australia, France and Belgium alongside your comrades and brothers in arms in the trenches of the great war, on the battlefields on which fell millions of men and who for peace, for freedom, gave their youth to do their duty and who, through barbed wire and the poppies, gave their lives for our tomorrow, for a better world in which we can live without being afraid of the next day thanks to the courage, the acts of bravery and the sacrifices of these young men who rest in peace, united in brotherhood, for today and for eternity in the white and peaceful cities, the serene cemeteries of the Somme in which poppies grow and which, like the memory of these heroes, will never fade and who will always be remembered and honored with respect and the greatest care under the flame of remembrance that we carry in our hands and between which they will live forever and today, Walter, Ernest, it is from the bottom of my heart and with the gratitude of the Somme, of France that I would like to say thank you,for all that you have done and sacrificed for us who stand respectfully in front of you and in front of the white graves of all your brothers in arms who here, in the Somme, gave their lives.Forever young, they are not just names in stone, they are our valiant Diggers, our sons, they are men with a story to tell, men who before the war had lives, friends, loved ones and who in their hearts, had dreams, hopes, men before being soldiers who gave their all alongside their brothers and fathers who together fought and fell in the hell of war and in the eternal shroud poppies that grow where so much blood and tears were shed.The poppies of the Somme are not only the symbol of remembrance, these flowers with blood red petals keep alive and strong the bravery and the sacrifice of an entire generation and are the silent and eternal witnesses of broken lives that are reborn day after day under the sun of the Somme and which remind us with emotion what so many of these heroes did so that we could tell their stories and that we could honor their memory with love and tenderness because they wrote the history, they wrote the most glorious pages of their countries which they made proud just as I feel for them the greatest pride and admiration when I walk between the rows of their graves. Gone but not and never forgotten, they walk in silence, gathered under the Flame of Remembrance that they passed on to us for us to remember them,a flame that I would always carry high and proud by sharing their stories so that they never cease to live despite the weight of the years, nothing will condemn them and their memory, today and forever will live, in our hearts and in our thoughts and will be forever our sons, my heroes, my boys of the Somme.Thank you Walter, Ernest, for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.