Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

François BerthoutAussies & Kiwis for ANZACs

Pte 679B Alick Guley Bremner
41st Australian Infantry Battalion, D Company,
13th Platoon, 11th Brigade, 3rd Australian Division,
3rd Machine Gun Company
 
In the fields of the Somme, between the red poppies that grow in silence, stand the white graves of a whole generation of men who, here, fought and fell in the trenches and the battlefields and who today, rest in peace under the golden sun, united in the mateship and the brotherhood in which they served side by side with pride and gave their today, their lives, their everything for our tomorrow, for a better world in which they will never be forgotten because they still live in our most loving hearts and thoughts in which their memory will never fade.

Today, it is with the deepest respect and gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme, who, for Australia and France, paid the supreme sacrifice.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 679B Alick Guley Bremner who fought in the 41st Australian Infantry Battalion,D Company, 13th Platoon, 11th Brigade, 3rd Australian Division, 3rd Machine Gun Company and who died of his wounds 103 years ago, on July 6, 1918 at the age of 22 on the Somme front.

Alick Guley Bremner was born on November 28, 1895 in Moulamein, New South Wales and although his birth was registered in Moulamein, he declared that he was born in Echuca, Victoria. He was the son of William Alexander Bremner and Mary Ann Bremner (née Guley),of Yelarbon, Goondiwindi Line,Queensland, who married on November 6, 1878 at The Manse, Echuca, Victoria.Alick was educated at Goondiwindi State School, Queensland and before the outbreak of the war worked as a farmer.

Alick enlisted on 25 November 1916 in Warwick, Queensland, in the 41st Australian Infantry Battalion, 3rd Machine Gun Company, Reinforcement 12, and after a period of seven months of training at Bell's Paddock Camp in Brisbane, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne , Victoria, on board HMAT A29 Suevic on June 21, 1917 and sailed for England.

On August 26, 1917, Alick and his battalion were disembarked in Liverpool and followed a period of training at Durrington, Wiltshire, England, then at Camp Number 4 at Sutton Veny, Wiltshire, on Salisbury Plain,in war conditions as realistic as possible and five months later, on January 9, 1918, he embarked from Southampton and proceeded overseas for France and was disembarked the same day at Rouelles.

On January 13, 1918, Alick was taken on strength on the field at Kemmel Huts near Ypres and two months later, on March 26, he was sent with his battalion to the Somme where they arrived by train at Doullens station and were sent to Vaux-Sur-Somme, near Villers-Bretonneux the next day then to Sailly-Le-Sec on the 29th to stop the German spring offensive.
On May 22, 1918, Alick and the men of the 41st Australian Infantry Battalion were sent to Villers-Bretonneux in difficult conditions and the following month, on June 4, he fell ill and was sent to the 10th Australian Stationary Hospital suffering from Influenza and then to the 5th Casualty Clearing Station on June 8 and on June 9, was admitted to the 2nd Convalescent Depot in Rouen.

After a short week of rest, Alick was sent back to the Somme front and joined the 41st Australian Infantry Battalion at Blangy-Tronville on June 16 then fought again in Villers-Bretonneux from June 22 until June 28 but unfortunately, a few days later, on July 6, 1918, Alick met his fate.

On July 4, 1918, the Battle of Le Hamel began and Alick fought with great courage but two days later, on July 6, 1918 at 7:00 pm while he was in a reserve trench at Le Hamel, he was drinking tea and a gas shell fell very close to him and Alick lost 4 fingers of his right hand and three pieces of his left wrist, he received several shell fragments in his left arm, he was also hit to the chest, abdomen, and one of his legs was almost off. He was immediately evacuated to the 13th Australian Field Ambulance in Daours but died very shortly after his admission, he was 22 years old.

A comrade of Alick, Private number 5007 Daniel Patrick Cunningham, declared:

"Bremner was wounded, getting full contents of a shell in reserve trench in front of Le Hamel, losing four fingers of right hand, having three pieces of shell in left arm, a piece in the chest and his leg just hanging at the thigh. Bremner was conscious and he said "I think I'm hit Sergeant, I'll stop here a while."

Today, Alick Guley Bremner rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at the Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "Safe in the arms of Jesus".

Alick had a brother who also fought in the first world war, Private number 2419 Leslie Gilbert Bremner who fought in the 42nd Australian Infantry Battalion. Leslie survived the war and returned to Australia on February 28, 1919.

Alick, you who fought and gave your life when you were in the prime of your life, at the dawn of a future full of promise and hope, you courageously answered to the call of duty and in the trenches, alongside your comrades and brothers in arms, you gave your youth and for all that you have done for us, I would like, from the bottom of my heart to say thank you and express my gratitude to you, not only mine but also the gratitude of the Somme and France, of my country which is also yours and which will never forget all that you and so many young men like you gave for my country and who, generation after generation, will come to honor your memory by walking among the white and peaceful cities in which rest in peace and stand a whole generation that the war has stopped in the barbed wire but which will never cease to live, we will transmit your story as you transmitted to us the torch of Remembrance which will never stop shining.Young and brave, determined to do their duty, they came together to serve their country with pride and because for them it was the right thing to do, to be alongside their friends, their fathers and brothers who, together , guided by their convictions, walked side by side through the fields of poppies and found in France, the love of a country which had for them the greatest admiration and with which, in the turmoil of the war, forged a very strong and sincere friendship,because from the worst, the best can be born.A friendship, love and mutual respect that still unites our two countries which together fought in the blood and the mud of the trenches and fell side by side and gave their lives for each other.Under the fire of machine guns and shells, incessant rains and storms of fire and steel fell on their steel helmets and on their shoulders which, in addition to carrying the weight of their bags and weapons, bravely carried the weight of the war,but despite the horrors they endured, the sight of wounded and dead men on no man's land, despite deluges of fire, they kept their smile to hide a fear that was in each of them and that they overcame in the strength of the camaraderie and friendship which united these young men and which gave them the strength and courage to stand, fight and hold the line.Brave among the bravest, always in the front line, in a hell they could not have imagined, they did their duty with the greatest determination, they never gave up, they never took a single step back and fought like lions in a world on the verge of destruction which was nothing more than a vast quagmire, an ocean of mud and barbed wire in which were mowed down in waves, by the thousands, a whole generation of heroes who shed their blood side by side,in courageous assaults, bayonets forward, they charged the enemy trenches following their officers to the sound of whistles under the crackle of machine guns pouring death at an unimaginable rate but they did not stop and moved forward towards their destinies with their heads held high, running and falling under terrible explosions, through the flames and the mud, they fought to the end of their strength, until their last breath, wounded, unable to move, they lay down one after the other in the red fields of blood covering the poppies, eternal symbols of their lives and of their sacrifices, living and strong symbol of their remembrance who forever, in our hearts and in the fields of the Somme, will live forever.Forever young, they found peace and rest in silence and serenity, they walk in peace at dawn, united under the eternal light of the sun of the Somme which day after day, in a new and eternal light, illuminates the names and the lives of all these young men, of my boys of the Somme over whom I would always watch with respect, gratitude and dignity so that their faces, their stories and their memory live forever, to bring them back to life and give them the honors, the love they all deserve, so that now and forever they can be remembered and never forgotten.Thank you so much Alick,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.

Alick was born as Alexander Guley BREMNER and his birth was registered in 1895 in Moulamein, New South Wales although he stated in his war records he was born in Echuca, Victoria

His parents were Alexander William BREMNER and Mary Ann GULEY who married on 6th November, 1878 at The Manse, Echuca, Victoria

His brother Leslie Gilbert also served in WW1 (SN2419) and returned to Australia in 1919