Raymond Alfred BENHAM

BENHAM, Raymond Alfred

Service Number: 2542
Enlisted: 11 May 1916
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 46th Infantry Battalion
Born: Drysdale, Victoria, Australia, 1897
Home Town: Drysdale, Greater Geelong, Victoria
Schooling: Drysdale State School, Victoria, Australia
Occupation: Farmer
Died: Killed in Action, Bullecourt, France, 11 April 1917
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Drysdale Methodist Church Honor Roll, Drysdale State School No 1645 Honor Roll, Drysdale War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France)
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World War 1 Service

11 May 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2542, 46th Infantry Battalion
7 Sep 1916: Involvement Private, 2542, 46th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Sydney embarkation_ship_number: A15 public_note: ''
7 Sep 1916: Embarked Private, 2542, 46th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Port Sydney, Melbourne
11 Apr 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2542, 46th Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (First)

Raymond's Lament

To Great Uncle Raymond, may you rest peacefully. You will always be in our hearts and remembered with pride and gratitude.

I say a silent prayer to God for courage to help me on my way
But as I look around me, God must be busy or doing something else today
Perhaps he’s listening to someone else who is entering the fray.
So here I go for God, King and Country with my life I’ll have to pay.

After all that I’ve done, experienced, and seen
Could I ever go back to my life the way it had been
Would I sit and think of all the wasteful loss of lives
In unmarked graves interred under foreign skies
It could never be the same although I wish it could be so
This is ‘my’ story because I thought someone should know

No ceremony or bugler to play proudly, ‘The Last Post’.
No silent vigil, mournful tune or marker where I was lost
No time to grieve, or count the cost but wherever my spirit may roam
I know one day, that someone, somehow, will find me and bring me back home.
RIP
Raymond

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Biography contributed by Robert Wight

Brother: 1436 Frederick Reuben BENHAM, 7th Battalion, killed in action, near Borre, France, 27 April 1918.