HENRY JAMES BEZER
AUSTRALIAN FIELD ARTILLERY
22ND AUGUST 1918 AGE 21
BURIED: VILLERS-BRETONNEUX MILITARY CEMETERY, FRANCE
This poetic inscription was written by Leslie Coulson in one of his last letters to his parents before he was killed in action on 8 October 1916:
"If I should fall, do not grieve for me. I shall be one with the wind and the sun and the flowers."
The letter is quoted in the introduction to the book of Coulson's poetry that his father published in 1917, 'From an Outpost and Other Poems'. The book sold very well, which must be how Henry Bezer's father came across the words. It's interesting that Coulson's father didn't use it as his son's inscription, or in fact any of his son's poetry, but instead chose to quote from the opening lines of John Milton's 'Samson Agonistes'.
Henry Bezer was killed by shell-fire on 22 August 1918 as the Australians slowly but surely advanced into previously German-held territory. A fellow soldier told the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau what happened:
"Informant states that they both belonged to the 107th Howitzer Battery. On 22/8/18 the Battery was in action at a place called by the boys 'Happy Valley' not far away from Bray. About half past 4 or 5 am just after the action started Bezer was killed outright by a shell, while he and Informant were working the gun to which they both belonged. Informant was right alongside him at the time and yet was not touched."
These photographs, from the Australian War Memorial Collection, show the 7th Brigade Australian Field Artillery in action on the day Bezer was killed.