Young soldier from Woodford remembered for his service on the battlefields of WWI

ALMOST 100 years ago a young milk cream tester entered a battlefield raked by German machine gun fire and pounded by their artillery.

Rhonda Brett of Burpengary visiting the grave of her uncle James Osmond of Woodford, Qld, who was killed in World War I, at the Bronfay Farm Military Cemetery in France.

ALMOST 100 years ago a young milk cream tester from Woodford entered a battlefield raked by German machine gun fire and pounded by their artillery.

Like thousands of others, James Osmond did not make it out of the Somme region, one of WWI’s biggest killing fields, alive.

He was 21.

Before war erupted in Europe, Mr Osmond had been a country boy.

He moved to Old Cove Rd, just west of Woodford, at aged 12 when his father, a school head teacher, was transferred there in 1909.

To commemorate 100 years since the Anzac landing at Gallipoli, and recognise the sacrifices of those men and women who have served our country since World War I, Quest Community Newspapers will publish one story each day online in the lead-up to Anzac Day.

Mr Osmond’s niece Rhonda Brett, from Burpengary, said he had gone there with his grandfather Jimmy ahead of the family to set up the farm.

After leaving school he took the tester’s job at the Woodford butter factory but by late 1915 the call to serve his country came when Queensland was asked to form two new battalions.

The exact circumstances of his death are unknown.

James Osmond

He was buried in the Bronfay Farm Military Cemetery. Mrs Brett visited the cemetery in 2006 and described the experience as “so sad”.

“I cried. You realise people had made such sacrifices,” Mrs Brett said.

Signing the visitors’ book was “like talking to uncle Jim”.

She has asked the Australian War Memorial to hold a Last Post ceremony in his honour.

Rhonda Brett at the grave of her uncle James Osmond, of Woodford, who is buried at the Bronfay Farm Military Cemetery. Osmond was killed at the Somme in WWI.

This story is part of Quest Community Newspaper’s 100 Years, 100 Days, 100 Stories project, which profiles Queensland World War I heroes and families as the nation builds up to the centenary of the Allied landing on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915.

If you have the details and war record of a family member who served during WWI, let us know on our Facebook page or email [e-mail]