Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"...2945 Private James Taylor McKnight, 55th Battalion (later 2nd Company Australian Machine Gun Corps), of Young, NSW. A bank clerk prior to enlisting, he embarked from Sydney aboard HMAT Ascanius (A11) on 25 October 1916. On 9 April 1918, he was killed in action near Amiens, France, aged 20. He is buried in the Boves West Communal Cemetery Extension, France." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)

From François Berthout

Pte  2945 James Taylor Mcknight
2nd Machine Gun Battalion

 
In the fields of the Somme, grow today, on the old trenches and between the rows of thousands of white graves, the poppies of Remembrance, which season after season, in peaceful silence, through their red petals, remind us that over a hundred years ago, here, in these peaceful lands, millions of young men fought and fell and who today, under the cross of sacrifice, rest in peace, side by side as they were in the hell that took place in the deadliest battles of the great war in which they gave their youth and their today for our tomorrow and which forever, will be remembered and honored so that they are never forgotten and that their memory lives on forever.

Today, it is with 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, for his country, on these lands of the Somme, for France, gave his today for our tomorrow,I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 2945 James Taylor Mcknight who fought in the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, 5th Machine Gun Company of the Australian Machine Gun Corps and who was killed in action 103 years ago,on April 9, 1918 at the age of 21 on the Somme front.

James Taylor Mcknight was born on June 5, 1898 in Wee Larra, Young, New South Wales, and was the son of John Edwin Mcknight, of Wee Larra. James was educated at Stony Creak Lower Public School and then at Young District School,New South Wales.After his studies, he worked as a bank clerk and joined the Bank of New South Wales, The rock branch on April 22, 1915 then he was transferred to the Tumut branch on July 22, 1915.

Enlisted on May 24, 1916 at Goulburn, New South Wales, in the 55th Australian Infantry Battalion, 7th Reinforcement, he embarked with his unit from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A11 Ascanius on October 25, 1916 and sailed for Devonport, England, where he arrived on December 28, 1916 and was sent to Hurdcott Camp, located at Compton Chamberlayne, near Fovant, Wiltshire, to receive his training with the 14th Training Battalion.Six months later, on June 15, 1917, he was transferred to the 5th Machine Gun Company of the Australian Machine Gun Corps and sent to Belton Camp, located in Grantham, England to complete his training.

Four months later, on October 3, 1917, James embarked with his unit and sailed for France where he arrived the same day and was sent to an instruction school to complete the handling of machine guns in Camiers, Nord-Pas-De-Calais, where he remained until October 8 before being taken on strength on the Somme front which he reached on October 12 and where he fought with great courage.

Unfortunately, it was in the Somme, six months later, on April 9, 1918, that James met his fate. On April 9, 1918, while James was with his unit at Domart-Sur-La-Luce, between Amiens and Villers- Bretonneux, Somme, on his way to join the front lines at Hangard Wood, a shell fell near him around 10pm and James was instantly killed. That evening James was next to Lance Corporal number 2387 John Michael Hanney, 2nd Battalion of the Australian Machine Gun Corps killed by the same shell.James was 21, John was 25 and were both buried by Reverend Pugh who was attached to the 68th Brigade of the Royal Garrisson Artillery.

Today, James Taylor Mcknight rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Boves West Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme.

James, You who were so young and who, with the greatest bravery, fought with your brothers in arms in the trenches of the Somme, on these soils of France, through the poppies on which you shed your blood and on who, eternal shroud, you gave your life, I would like with all my heart, with respect, with humility and gratitude, to say thank you for all that you have done, not only for my country but also for Australia, for the freedom and for the peace in which we live today and for which you and so many other young men like you gave their lives and their youth in the trenches and the battlefields of the north of France which, for four years , were drowned and pounded, destroyed and pulverized by tons of steel which, day after day, transformed silent and peaceful landscapes into fields of death and fury in which lived and fell a whole generation of men. Through the ruins and the barbed wire, these men had as only youth the hell of a war which set the world ablaze and which shattered millions of lives through storms of fire and steel in assaults stopped by murderous fire machine guns under which they marched bravely towards their fates, in the mud and the cold, they stood with bravery and determination under the daily and incessant roar of thousands of cannons which spit their steel shells on the shoulders of young men who had as only protection, their steel helmet and their faith, a courage that was never broken despite the horrors and fears they endured in this outburst of savagery and inhumanity, they were plunged into the madness of a world that decided to destroy itself, but they kept their hopes intact, and in those dark hours, they showed humor and gallantry, they found in each other, the strength and the courage to hold out, to keep their heads high, they were light in the darkness and fought with admirable camaraderie, they were united and strong and it is in this unity that they did their duty, with loyalty and devotion and it was with this strength and this energy that they followed each other on the battlefield, together they went over the top, resolutely, facing downpours of lead, they fought like lions, with the deep conviction that their actions were righteous and that each of them could put an end to this war, an end to all wars so that their sons, their children, future generations will never again know a world at war.their hearts beating to the rhythm of their footsteps, under the weight of the war which they carried on their young shoulders, they moved forward, through blood and fire, in the howls of men and cannons, in heroic charges which ended in a bloodbath through the steel of the bayonets, they paid the supreme sacrifice and together, in the mud and the poppies of the Somme, they fell, their gaze turned towards the sky and towards the horizon, towards a future and a more peaceful world we live in today.For us, they gave their lives then to make their memory come alive, to bring them back to life, I would give them mine with the same devotion they had on the battlefields on which they rest in peace today. I would always watch over them, guardian of their memory, of their history, sentinel of the Flame of Remembrance, they will always be honored and remembered with care, with love and respect because these young men are, here, on these soils of France for which they gave so much, became our sons, our fathers, our loved ones, we will always be united, hand in hand and grateful around them to tell them that they have not and that they will never be forgotten and that their names, their faces, will live forever in us, in our loving hearts and in our thoughts in which they are engraved, they will never be forgotten. Thank you James,with all my heart,for everything. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him, we will remember them, now, tomorrow, forever.

JAMES TAYLOR McKNIGHT was born on 5th June, 1898, at Weelarra, Young, the son of Mr. John Edwin and Mrs. Gertrude McKnight. He was educated a t the Stony Creek Lower Public School (where Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson was then teaching), and at the Young District School. He entered the Bank’s service a t The Rock on 22nd April, 1915, and was transferred to Tumut in the following July.

James Taylor McKnight enlisted in the A.I.F. and went into camp on 17th May, 1916, being then under eighteen years of age. He arrived in France in October, 1917, and was in action there, with the 5th Company, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, until 9th April, 1918, when a shell burst over him and three of his comrades who were unloading a limber. James Taylor McKnight and another were killed. He was buried at Boues in the Amiens district.

Source - Bank of NSW Roll of Honour