Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout

LCpl 2888 Edward Henry Charles Bonnett
32nd Australian Infantry Battalion, 8th Brigade,
5th Australian Division

In the fields of northern France, here in the Somme, stretch across the poppies, the innumerable rows of a whole generation of young men who, here, fought and fell into the trenches, barbed wire and battlefields and who today rest in peace, in the brotherhood and friendship that unites them in the peaceful fields of poppies that undulate under the sun and the blue sky of a peaceful world in which we live thanks to the courage and sacrifices of all these young men who still stand young and smiling in the white and serene cities in which I walk today with love and respect to honor their memory and share their stories so that they are never forgotten.

Today, I would like to honor with gratitude and respect the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his today and his life for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Lance Corporal number 2888 Edward Henry Charles Bonnett who fought in the 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion, 8th Brigade, 5th Australian Division and who died of his wounds 103 years ago; on June 25, 1918 at the age of 22 on the Somme front.

Edward Henry Charles Bonnett was born on January 23, 1896 in Milparinka, New South Wales, and was the son of Henry Joseph and Ann Mary Bonnett, of Milparinka via Broken Hill, New South Wales. Edward was educated at Christian Brothers College, New South Wales, and before the outbreak of the war worked as a motor driver.

Edward enlisted on March 2, 1916 at Broken Hill, New South Wales, as private in the 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion, 6th reinforcement, and after a three month training period, he embarked with his unit from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A60 Aeneas on April 11, 1916 and sailed for Egypt then two months later, on June 20, he embarked on board Huntsend and proceeded overseas for France where he was disembarked on June 30 in Marseilles before joining the 5th Australian Divisional Base Depot in Etaples on August 26.

On August 29, 1916, Edward was taken on strength but four months after he joined the trenches near Fleurbaix, Pas-de-Calais, he fell ill on December 4 and was evacuated to the 5th Australian Field Ambulance suffering from trench feet then rejoined his battalion eleven days later, on December 15, 1916 at Mametz, Somme, at Melbourne Camp and a little over two weeks later, on December 31, he was detached from his unit and sent to the 1st ANZAC Bomb School and returned in his battalion on January 9, 1917 at Rainneville, Somme, but three days later, on January 12, he was sent to the 14th Australian Field Ambulance suffering from sore heel and was returned to his unit on January 15 at Dernancourt, Somme, but a few days later, he fell ill again and on January 19, he was evacuated to the 8th Australian Field Ambulance and then to the 1st New Zealand Stationary Hospital.

On January 20, 1917, Edward was sent to the 3rd Ambulance Train in Amiens, Somme and was evacuated to the 14th General Hospital in Wimereux, Pas-De-Calais suffering from Influenza. A month later, after recovering, he was sent to Base Depot in Boulogne on February 8 and joined the 5th Australian Divisional Base Depot located in Etaples on February 11.

Two months later, on April 22, 1917, Edward joined the 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion in Pas-De-Calais, more precisely at Darwincamp located at Haplincourt and on April 28, he was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal and on July 22, 1917, was detached from his unit for bombing course then joined his unit on August 9, 1917 at Racquinghem and a week later, on August 18, was granted a special leave in england before returning to the front with his comrades on the 31 August.

A month later, in September 1917, Edward was sent to Belgium and fought in the Battle of Polygon Wood which began on September 26 during the Third Battle of Ypres and where he was wounded for the first time on September 28 by a fragment of shell in his right shoulder and was evacuated from the front and admitted to the 7th Canadian General Hospital in Etaples on September 30 then evacuated to England on October 8 on board Ville De Liége then admitted the same day to the 1st London General Hospital in Camberwell then to the 1st Auxiliary Hospital in Harefield on October 23.

One month later, after recovering from his shoulder injury, Edward was sent to the 2nd Command Depot in Weymouth on November 14, 1917, then to the 3rd Command Depot in Hurdcott on December 12 and to the 4th Command Depot on December 18.

In early 1918,on January 27, 1918, Edward fell slightly ill and was admitted with septic throat then the following month, on February 16, he joined the Overseas Training Brigade at Longbridge Deverill and was again admitted to a military hospital on March 25 with acne and two months later, on May 8, 1918, he embarked and proceeded overseas for France where he was disembarked the same day at Etaples and joined the 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion on May 10 in the Somme, in Vaux-Sur-Somme, near Villers-Bretonneux but unfortunately, it was a month later, on June 25, 1918, that he met his fate and was wounded by a gun shot in the neck and an compound fracture in his left arm near Corbie then was immediately evacuated and admitted to the 61st casualty Clearing Station in Vignacourt, Somme, where he died a few hours later, he was 22 years old.

Today, Lance Corporal Edward Henry Charles Bonnett rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Vignacourt british Cemetery, Somme.

Edward, you who were so young, at the dawn of a life full of hope, you left your home with tears of sadness in your eyes but with in your heart the pride of answering the call of duty and to serve for your country alongside your brothers in arms in the name of justice, democracy, freedom and peace in the trenches of the great war, on the battlefields of Belgium and France until your last breath in the poppy fields of the Somme on which you gave your life alongside your friends and comrades who did so much for our country and for all that you have done for us, I would like, from the bottom of my heart to express my gratitude to you to say thank you, to also tell you that you have not and will never be forgotten and that on these sacred grounds on which so much blood was shed, we will honor your memory but also the memory and the history of all those who lived, fought and fell by your side and who today, rest in peace for eternity, side by side, always united in the comradeship and brotherhood in which they fought and fell together with bravery in the battlefields of the Somme on which grow and flourish in silence the poppies, symbols of courage, of the sacrifices of a whole generation of men, eternal symbol of the remembrance that I carry with love and pride in my heart to bring back to life these heroes who gave their youth and their lives for a country that they knew little but for whom they gave their all and who will be forever grateful to them.They were young and brave, came from all over the world to fight in France and became our sons on whom we will always watch with respect and dignity so that who they were and what they did, what they sacrificed for us will never be forgotten and for them who gave their lives, I would give them mine to put a face, a story behind their names forever inscribed in the stone of their white tombs that time will never condemn and so that they can live forever, so that they can be remembered and cherished in our hearts and thoughts.In the war, for many of them, their lives were stopped but their hopes, their dreams of peace and a better world never ceased to live and the war never had the last word on them because today, more than ever, they live with us and I am sure that they would be happy and proud to see that we remember them, that we are united around them but also to see that thanks to them, people who did not know each other, forge sincere friendships just as they did with their French brothers in arms in the trenches.I have for each of these young men a deep admiration, respect and love and when I walk through the rows of their graves my tears flow but I have in my heart the greatest pride and gratitude for them, I am honored and proud to watch over them, to be there for them and for their families and be sure that I will always do my best with my heart, with energy and devotion for them and for you so that these young men, my heroes, my boys of the Somme, will never be forgotten.Thank you so much Edward,with all my heart.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.