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Husband of Mary BURKE of 90 Cavendish Street, Stanmore New South Wales.

From François Berthout

Pte Arnold Wilson BURKE

Over a hundred years ago, here in the Somme, in the poppy fields, millions of men fought and fell, a whole generation who came from so far away, and who, for their country and for France, gave their lives. They were young and brave and carried with them the hopes of a better world for which they gave their youth in the trenches and the battlefields on which they still stand, tall and proud behind the countless rows of their white graves on which are written and remembered their names, their stories, the stories of men whom we will keep alive so that who they were and what they did for us will never be forgotten and can live forever in the Remembrance in which we are reunited around them.

Today,it is the memory of one of these men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his today for our tomorrow that I would like to honor with gratitude.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 3019 Arnold Wilson Burke who fought in the 1st Australian Infantry Battalion, C Company, 9th Platoon, 1st Brigade, 1st Australian Division and who died of his wounds 104 years ago, on May 10, 1917 at the age of 37 on the Somme front.

Arnold Wilson Burke was born in 1880 in Goulburn, New South Wales, was educated at Cleveland Street Public School, was married to Mary Burke and had two daughters, Pearl May Burke and Violet Mary Burke and a son, John Robert Burke, and lived at 90 Cavendish Street, Stanmore, New South Wales where Arnold worked as a tailor.

Arnold enlisted on July 11, 1915 in Liverpool, New South Wales, in the 1st Australian Infantry Battalion, 10th Reinforcement, C Company, 9th Platoon, 1st Brigade, 1st Australian Division, and embarked with his unit from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A69 Warilda on October 8, 1915 and proceeded to join the MEF (Meditterean Expeditionary Force) at Tel-El-Kébir, Egypt, where he was disembarked on February 14, 1916 and was sent to Mena camp.

A month later, on March 22, 1916, Arnold embarked from Alexandria, Egypt, on board HMT Ivernia and proceeded overseas for France and was disembarked in Marseilles on March 28 and the following month, in early April was sent to Outtersteen, in the north of France.
On April 12, at Outtersteen, Arnold was sentenced to 14 days in Field Prison for being drunk in town but despite this unfortunate incident Arnold served with dedication and courage and the following month,on May 14, 1916, was attached to the APM ( Assistant Provost Marshal) for duty as traffic police.

Two months later, on July 4, 1916, Arnold joined the 1st Australian Infantry Battalion at Bailleul, Flanders, then were sent by train to the Somme at Doullens and marched through Vignacourt, Warloy-Baillon, Albert to enter the frontline at Contalmaison.

On July 23, 1916, Arnold and the 1st Australian Infantry Battalion took part in the fiery cauldron that is now known as the battle of Pozieres where the 1st Australian, 2nd Australian and 4th Australian Divisions would endure seven weeks of the heaviest fighting experienced so far and suffer over 23,000 casualties. Each of the Divisions would enter into the front line hell hole of Pozieres on two occasions with the most savage fighting taking place at Windmill Hill and Mouquet Farm.

Of the location known as Windmill Hill, one of the key objectives capture by the Australians, Official Historian, Captain Charles Bean wrote: “The Windmill site, marks a ridge more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth”.

On September 5, 1916, the 1st Australian Division was withdrawn from Pozieres and the AIF would venture north to Belgium to take part in the defense of Ypres in the fighting in the Hill 60 Sector part of the Ypres Salient. In October the Battalion would begin the return journey south for the second round of fighting in the Somme Valley.

On November 5, 1916,the 1st Australian Infantry Battalion would again suffer heavy casualties in the poorly planned and ill supported attacks by 1st Brigade against the heavily fortified German strongholds of Bayonet, Hilt and Lard trenches all part of the overall strong German defences located in Delville Wood, Longueval,Somme. This operation cost the Battalion 73 killed in action with nearly double that number being wounded in action.

During December 1916 and January, February and early March 1917 the Battalion as did all the combatants suffered one of the coldest winters until then ever recorded in Europe. The Battalion experienced some time in the front line but saw little fighting. Surviving the bitter cold was the hardest task of all.

On March 3, 1917, burial parties from the Battalion returned to the battlefield of Hilt Trench to locate the bodies of their comrades that had been left behind on the battlefield and to give them a decent burial.
This quiet time continued until April 1917,when the Battalion was involved in operations around Doignies and Demicourt up until April 9, with light casualties. The quiet time then resumed until May 3, 1917 when 1st Battalion was called forward into the front line during the second desperate attack against the German stronghold of Bullecourt, a heavily fortified town which was part of the supposedly impregnable Hindenburg Line.

Unfortunately it was at Bullecourt, on May 3, 1917, that Arnold was seriously injured by a shrapnel on the back of the neck injuring his spinal cord and was evacuated the same day at the 47th Casualty Clearing Station in Varennes, Somme, where despite the greatest care, he died seven days later,on May 10,1917, he was 37 years old.

After Arnold's death, the medical officer who looked after him, Lieutenant Colonel William Ranson, D.S.O, commanding the 47th casualty Clearing station in Varennes, Somme, wrote:
"In reply to your letter,3019,Private Burke,1st Battalion,AIF,sustained a wound in the back of the neck injuring his spinal cord. With his sanction, and indeed at his request,an operation was performed and though the piece of shrapnel was located it was found impossible to remove it,not would its removal have been of any benefits as the damage sustained was so extensive.He was an exeptionally nice patient and very thankful for all that was done for him. He was with us eight days,but from the first, after an x-ray examination, one felt that it was hardly possible he could live. He was completely paralysed below his arms, and had he lived on, his existence would have been a very trying one.He suffered very little actual pain, his chief trouble being that he was restless and unable to move himself, required constant attention. He was buried in the cemetery close to this casualty clearing station and a cross with his name, regiment, marks his resting place. I am able to give you these few details because I took special interest in him myself and used to converse with him every night on my evening round".

Today, Arnold Wilson Burke, who was called with great affection "Bourkie" by his comrades, rests in peace with his friends and brothers in arms at Varennes Military Cemetery, Somme.

Arnold, Sir, you who for Australia and for France, for my country gave your everything, your life, I would like with all my heart and with the highest respect, my admiration and my love for your country but also for you and all the men who fought and who rest in peace today by your side, say thank you.Over a hundred years ago, you answered with determination to the call of duty and walked with your brothers in arms on the roads of northern France, in the Somme, through the red fields of poppies that saw the courage and the sacrifices of so many heroes who made their country proud and who together, on the battlefields, under the barbed wire, shed their blood in the most beautiful spirit of mateship and bravery that a whole generation of young men showed on the soil of France who fought and served side by side with pride for their country and for noble causes under which these men gathered, they fought for freedom, for justice and for peace under the banner of humanity. In the trenches, they fought for their mothers, their families and their loved ones alongside courageous men who together held the line with determination, courage and conviction in the mud and blood, in the cold and among the rats, they fought in these lands of France that they did not know much for but for which they did so much, a country that they learned to love and fought as if this country were theirs and made this fight theirs. admired and deeply respected by their French brothers in arms and by the French people, they helped France to recover and on the walls of the schools of Amiens, Villers-Bretonneux, was written in golden letters "Do not forget Australia ".More than a hundred years have passed and we have not forgotten, we will never forget who these men were and what they did for us in the trenches, under machine-gun fire and under rains of shells, under the poisoned gas, they endured hell on earth but despite the horrors they saw and suffered, they remained strong, despite the death that surrounded them, they remained determined and united, they found in each other the strength to live and to fight, they held their heads high under their steel helmets over which rained death and destruction under downpours of howling metal that transformed peaceful landscapes into fields of apocalypse and death,on which thousands of men fell in courageous assaults that ended in countless bloodbaths that saw so many young men collapsed, men who had a life ahead of them, hopes and dreams that the war shattered.Brave and proud, they stood with honor and loyalty, all stepped forward, ready to go over the top and march towards their destinies, side by side behind their officers, ready to do their duty and fight the good fight to put an end to all wars, they came out of the trenches and moved forward unprotected but with bravery under the deadly fire of machine guns and shells that swept the battlefield but they did not stop, none of them ever stepped back and charged heroically, bayonets forward through the explosions, through the flames, heads lowered under the whistling of bullets under which many of them fell, they paid for each step forward in blood and pain, in the tears and screams of the wounded, they moved forward with exceptional courage in a devastated land which was nothing but shell holes , in the barbed wire in which many of them were mowed but in the face of death, they showed their humanity, their bravery, they put their hearts and their hopes in the battle and in a last act of courage and faith, they gave their lives knowing that they had done what was right and that through their courage and sacrifice, the next generations would live in a world at peace.so they closed their eyes and fell asleep peacefully in the poppy fields in which they now rest in peace, forever young and side by side on the soils of a friendly country and for these men who are also our sons, the son of australia and france, i would always give my heart to keep alive their history, their stories, their memory. I would always watch over them to bring them back to life so that none of them are ever forgotten, they will always have my heart and my dedication, my gratitude and my highest respect, they gave their lives for my country, for France and I would give them mine so that they will live forever.Like poppies that grow and bloom, their memory will never fade.Thank you so much Arnold,Sir,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.