Claudius William Samuel Oliver                

Photos from the grave at Larvik Cemetery. To the far right a photo from the Australian War Memorial, listing Oliver's name

                                      All photographs and Claudius' last letter received by John Williams.

              Below is the last letter written by Claudius to his mother

   Dear Mother,

 

    

    By the time you receive this letter you will either have been told that I am missing 

   or have paid the supreme sacrifice, but I could not leave you without one last word. 

   I am taking this opportunity because wherever I am I will always be thinking of you

   & may not be able to tell you then.

 

   Be brave mother dear! Don't give up hope for three months. But if you don't have

   any news by then, you must take the worst for granted. I have one thought which

   is very real & that is that I have done my duty faithfully & to the best of my ability

   & have no regrets as to the cause I chose in this great struggle for existence & that is 

   what I want to impress upon you as you read this. 

 

   But my personal thoughts were always with you because if I look back on the

   years of my life I realise that everything I have done & everything I have had, have

   all been made possible only by one person - yourself. My early boyhood, when 

   my father was alive, was all shaped and guided by you & many's the time you 

   shielded me from him and given me advice when I needed it. Again, my years in

   college were all made possible by your working, slaving, & saving enough to 

   keep me there, always with the one thought at the back of your mind - to make me

   a gentleman with a good education & so fit me for my life in the world & so have

   a son of whom to be proud. 

 

   I know at this moment down deep you are the proudest mother in the world & the        

   unhappiest. You are not a young woman, but at least you have a nice little income 

   to live on & so will not have to go out & start building. Please try to keep your 

   mind off the black side of things for you know that I do not wish you to be unhappy    

   because of me. Well mother darling, I think I have put everything into these words 

   that i wanted to tell you & I do hope you have understood how I felt towards you 

   always even though I may not always show it.

 

   Good-bye darling

 

   Your son as ever

 

   Claude