Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout and Katrina Cutler
 
Today it is with deep gratitude in my heart, under the sun of the Somme flooding with light the fields of poppies and the graves of thousands of young men who fell here and who today rest in peace on the soil of France that I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Corporal number 4152 John Cogle who fought in the 4th Field Company of the Australian Engineers and who was killed in action 104 years ago,on August 31, 1916 at the age of 30 on the Somme front.

John Cogle was born on June 10, 1886 at 3, Hamilton Street, Leith, Scotland and was the son of John Cogle and Grace Cogle (née Johnson). He lived with his parents at 20, Lapicide Place, North Leith then at 2, Hope Terrace, North Leith. A few years later, John and his parents moved to Redfern, New South Wales, where he worked as a shipwright and where he met his wife, Elsie Elizabeth Cogle who he was married to and they lived at 81, Randwick Street, Leichhardt, Sydney, New South Wales.

Enlisted in Liverpool, New South Wales, on March 15, 1915,in the 20th Australian Infantry Battalion, C Company, he was then transferred to the 4th Field Company Engineers of the Australian Engineers and he embarked with his unit from Sydney, New South Wales, on board Transport Berrima on June 25, 1915.on September 2, 1915 John was appointed Lance Corporal and joined the British Expeditionary Force on the Gallipoli Peninsula the next day, September 3, 1915. A month later, on October 29, 1915, he was admitted to hospital with gas poisoning, and discharged from Field Ambulance back to his unit on 30th October. on January 4, 1916, John was sent to Egypt and was disembarked in Alexandria, the following month, on February 26, 1916 he was promoted to the rank of 2nd Corporal at Serapeum then he was promoted to the rank of Temporary Corporal on May 1, 1916 and on June 1, 1916 he embarked with his unit from Alexandria, Egypt, for France.

On June 9, 1916, John was disembarked in Marseilles and joined the British Expeditionary Force and was sent to the Somme front.In early August, the 4th Field Company were at La Boiselle.There they had been cleaning and undertaking trench digging duties near Pozieres. This work continued for days, despite heavy shelling on the 14th of August. Good progress was made over the next few days with excavating continuing. By the 17th, the Company was at Buckfields undertaking inspection, bathings parades, drill and resting. On the 20th they work on the construction of a road at a new casualty clearing site. Work continued over the next few days and good progress was made.On the 27th, half of the Company left for La Boiselle at 9am, followed by the other half of he Company. At 12 noon, 2 officers and 50 Rifle Guards reported on Kays Trench for Construction working until 6am. The following days work continued, with a section of sappers digging under heavy shelling. 1 Sapper was noted as killed on the 28th of August. Work continued until the 31st with digging of Assembly Trenches.Unfortunately, it was on August 31, 1916 that John met his destiny and that he was killed in action in Pozieres, he was 30 years old.

Today, John Cogle rests in peace with his comrades and brothers in arms at Pozieres British Cemetery, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life" to finish writing this tribute, I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart Katrina Cutler, of whom John Cogle was the great grandfather, she allowed me with great kindness to go to John's grave to pay him my respects and who became a friend in Australia for whom I have a very deep respect and with whom I have the privilege to share these few lines coming from my heart and which I express with gratitude and respect. Thank you Katrina.

John, Today I am with Katrina, your great granddaughter to honor your memory, France and Australia united to pay you a very respectful tribute, on this silent and peaceful soil of the Somme on which you fought with your comrades with admirable bravery, through the muddy battlefields on which so many lives were lost, shattered by the hell of the battle, under the shells, under the bullets and the poisoned gas, these men showed an exceptional courage, they stood together, in the trenches, facing endless bombardments, holding on in anguish and fear of being hit or killed, they held together, united in friendship and comradeship to face the apocalypse which surrounded them, they advanced together and fell together for their country, for their families by facing a lead hail spewed out by machine guns and rifles, fear in their stomachs, they advanced,they fought until their last breaths and gave all they had, their courage, their youth, the love for their country and for their families which gave them the strength to fight and to hope for better days, they fought to offer the world a new hope for peace, they gave their today for the hope of a new tomorrow and gave their lives so that others could live, their sacrifices cannot and must not be forgotten.living here in the Somme very often makes me think about life and I tell myself every day that it is thanks to the sacrifices of all these young men who fell here over a hundred years ago that I am here today. today, it is an honor and a privilege to watch over each of them, who like you John, gave everything for us and we who are here, we are the guardians of your memory, of your history, the guardians of your graves and the bearers of the Flame of Remembrance, a fragile and precious light that we must protect as well as the peace for which these young men fell. Today they rest in peace here, always standing in front of us, they are with we and will live forever in our hearts and in our thoughts, in the light in which their names will live forever, they will never be forgotten. Thank you John, for all you have done for us. Katrina and Francois, Australia and France, hand in hand forever. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them, now, tomorrow, forever.