Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout

Bombardier 3058 William David Hilder
13th Field Artillery Brigade, 51st Battery,
5th Artillery Division of the Australian Field Artillery
 
More than a hundred years ago on the fields of the Somme, in the mud and blood fought a whole generation of young men who, under shells and bullets, in the fury of the worst battles of the first world war,side by side went through the horrors and pains of a world on the verge of destruction ravaged by flames but with bravery, watching over each other, they went over the top without fear and did more than their bit for peace and freedom and among the poppies they fell and shed their blood together for their country which they made proud through their courage and their loyalty on the sacred lands of northern France, an old country they knew little about but for which they did and gave so much beyond their limits, beyond bravery and where they rest in peace ,in the silence of peaceful landscapes where I will always walk with respect in front of their white graves to put a face to their names and to honor their memory so that they will never be forgotten and their history will live forever.

Today, it is with the utmost respect and infinite gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his today for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Bombardier number 3058 William David Hilder who fought in the 13th Field Artillery Brigade, 51st Battery, 5th Artillery Division of the Australian Field Artillery and who was killed in action 106 years ago, on January 27, 1917 at the age of 27 on the Somme front.
William David Hilder was born in 1887 in Petersham, Sydney, New South Wales, and was the son of David Hilder and Elizabeth Hilder (née Capper), of "Lochinvar", 130 Frederick Street, Ashfield, New South Wales. William had a sister, Margaret Elizabeth and before the outbreak of the war he lived at 184 Old Canterbury Road, Summer Hill, Sydney, New South Wales and worked as a bridge carpenter.

William enlisted on July 14, 1915 in the 4th Australian Infantry Battalion, 10th Reinforcement, and after a training period of two months, he embarked with his unit from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A69 Warilda on October 8, 1915 and sailed for Egypt.
On December 22, 1915, William arrived in Egypt and was disembarked at Abbassia where he was admitted the same day to the 4th Auxiliary Hospital suffering from mumps and joined his unit on January 21, 1916 at Tel-El-Kebir.A month later, on February 16, he was transferred to the 56th Australian Infantry Battalion then to the 5th Artillery Division on March 16 and taken on strength in the 13th Field Artillery Brigade, 51st Battery on March 18.Two months later, on May 14, 1916, William was promoted to the rank of Bombardier at Ferry Post, Egypt and the following month, on June 16, 1916, he embarked with his unit from Alexandria, on board "Tunisian" and proceeded overseas for France.

After a short trip of a week on the Mediterranean Sea, William and the 13th Field Artillery Brigade arrived in France and were disembarked in Marseilles on June 23, 1916. On the Western Front, artillery had an essential role,, it dominated and defined the battlefield.In concert with the weather, it turned the terrain into the pulverised devastated quagmire that is so synonomous with that period and place.

Artillery inflicted the most casualties and battle space damage and instilled the most fear among opposing forces. Its effect was both physical and psychological, with the term "shell shock" coming into general use early in the war.Artillery required a Herculean logistic effort to keep ammunition up to the guns from manufacture to the gun line. It was also a very dangerous occupation, attracting the attention of the enemy, the general result of which was "counter battery fire" designed to neutralise and destroy gun positions and ammunition.

William experienced the destructive power of artillery for the first time at Bois-Grenier on July 14, 1916 then during the Battle of Fromelles on July 19 in the sector of "Croix Blanche" and "La Cordonnerie" alongside the 49th, 50th Field Artillery Battery and the 113th Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery and held these positions until September 25, when William and his unit were sent to Armentieres and remained in this sector until November 9 then marched to the front of the Somme.
On November 18, 1916, William and the 13th Field Artillery Brigade arrived in the Somme, more precisely in Mametz then marched through Montauban, Carnoy, Meaulte, Morlancourt, Bussy, Heilly, Bonnay, La Neuville where they arrived on November 26 then joined Naours the following day via Querrieu, Rainville, Villers-Bocage and Flesselles.

On December 23, William and his unit left Naours and marched for Guillemont from where his battery bombarded the German positions of "Ginchy Road", Morval, Lesboeufs, but the Australian positions were also heavily shelled, not only by enemy artillery but also by airplanes. Unfortunately, a month later, on January 27, 1917, William met his fate and was killed in action at Delville Wood. He was mentioned in the Routine Orders of the 1st Anzac Corps on February 9, 1917:
"On the afternoon of 27 January 1917 the 51st Battery was being shelled and was ordered to shelter. Bombardier Hilder voluntarily returned to the telephone dug-out to maintain communication with Group Headquarters although this spot was continuously under heavy shell fire. He remained at his post preserving communication with Group Headquarters until a 5.9” shell struck the dug-out and killed him. By his action he set a fine example of courage and devotion to duty."

Today, William David Hilder rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "Till the resurrection morn."

William, In the fields of the Somme, in the midst of chaos and fury, it was with exceptional bravery that you did your duty alongside your comrades, the Diggers who, in the prime of their lives, volunteered with determination and faith for australia and who side by side, embarked without fear to fight on the sacred soils of the north of france alongside their brothers in arms in the trenches, in the mud and the blood and all went forward for peace and freedom under the hail of bullets and the rain of shells that the artillery spat out at an implacable rhythm and which, through the flames and the bites of steel, mutilated and crushed physically and psychologically an entire generation of young men who went to the front thinking they would live the greatest adventure of their young lives but in the Somme, in Pozieres, Flers, Delville Wood, Amiens and Villers-Bretonneux they found death, desolation, carnage and brutality of the great war which mowed down millions of men in the barbed wire and the poppies but through these slaughterhouses, in this endless nightmare they watched over each other and found in the mateship, in the friendship and the courage which united them, the strength and the courage to fight and risk their lives under enemy machine gun fire that turned once peaceful fields into open cemeteries.In the cold and narrow trenches, these young boys gave their youth so far from home and saw beyond the parapets, hurricanes of fire and steel which pulverized whole waves of thousands of their comrades, they heard the sinister screams of the canons in terrible symphonies which punctuated the days and nights of an interminable wait but also the howls of pain of their brothers, of their best friends who, wounded on the battlefield no longer had the strength to go back and awaited death under a sky broken by the thunder and the rage of a world at war which was the only today of exceptional men who gave their lives for us and who, in the eternal shroud of the poppy fields, found peace and eternal rest after the sufferings and horrors they endured until their last breaths and paid the price of freedom and peace with the blood they shed side by side, united in the brotherhood that still binds them today behind the rows of their white tombs and on which are inscribed more than very poignant epitaphs, they tell us the story and the destinies of heroes who, in the face of adversity, in the darkest hours of history, gathered around common causes to make peace triumph, a peace for which they fought and fell together and which unites them today in the white cities of the Somme which will never forget any of these young and brave men on whom I am proud to watch over to bring their history and their names to life.Young and proud they were and young they will forever be in our hearts where their memory, like the poppies, will never fade.Nothing will condemn them and for them, for their families, for the next generations, I will keep their lives strong and alive, their courage and their sacrifices so that they are never forgotten. They gave their lives, their today for us so I would give them my today, my life for these young boys, my boys of the Somme to live forever. Thank you so much William, for everything. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him, we will remember them.