Today 9th of April is the 100th anniversary for the battle of Vimy Ridge.
Give thank's to our Canadian comrades for their sacrifice on that day! Remember them!
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Today 9th of April is the 100th anniversary for the battle of Vimy Ridge.
Give thank's to our Canadian comrades for their sacrifice on that day! Remember them!
My great Uncle Leslie is still there, in La Chaudierre cemetery...right beside where Petit Vimy stood. He joined the 91st CEF and was sent to Salisbury as a replacement for the 58th CEF, a common practice for some units that were feeders for others. He was killed on the fourth day of a three day battle in a unit that was with-held from battle...according to Pierre Burton's book.
Actual fact was, he was a section commander and was killed along with the Platoon Commander when they were doing a recon of trenches and were cut off. They were found a day or so later during normal mop-up action.
He was from Harrietsville Ontario...joined in 1915.
Cannot say to much Jim except what I feel about the sacrifice all the soldiers made for the freedom of the world "They gave their all, so we could have it all" RIP for your Great Uncle bloke.
My great uncle was not so lucky and was never found.
His name is on the Vimy Memorial.......
My dad went over the top that day with the 2nd Battalion CMGC he was 19.. Awarded the MM and would never talk about Vimy other than a little bit about the training they did before the assault.
He went back when the dedicated the Monument in 36 and once more in 74 with my mom.
Still have his brochures etc. from the 36 visit, his Sam Brown and medals and a photo from the 1931 Re-union of the Officers of the CMGC.
He never thought anything of the MM, was proud of his 1914-15 Star.
Sadly Warren I think all of the Allied side as well as the other side suffered the same fates of missing loved ones, one can only hope that it was mercifully quick in both cases for both yours and Jims Great Uncles as sad as it is.
Allot of Australian families due to our small population were touched by the reapers sickle;
For Australia, the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.
Pic of an actual tombstone & helmet on tour with the ANZAC Gallipoli artifacts show that toured Australia 2016.
Quote:
Originally Posted by enfield303t
The MM came to be called the "Maconachie Medal"; as though it was handed out like the tinned "pie" of that name. It was also a cheap substitute for the DCM and way for the authorities to avoid paying the £10 bounty that went with the DCM.
Thirty six men from the CEF were awarded the MM and two bars. When you read some of the citations it is clear they could as easily have been awarded the DCM and many others would have been for the same acts.
It did also come down to whether your officers wanted to recommend you, and if they did, you got it whether you had earned it or not. Conversely, if you were disliked you could get nothing no matter what you did, but this is the sort of stuff that most chose to leave out of their memoirs. One who did not mentioned that some of those in his battalion who had won the MM fairly refused to wear them on parade since the medal had also been awarded to some of the "court favourites" in the battalion who had not earned them.
War is said to bring out the best and the worst, and the best and the worst in them!
Unfortunately it remains the same today.Quote:
Originally Posted by Surpmil
# 7 - # 8 implicates that allot of chaps who may have rightly deserved honours for their courage and selfless acts of heroism were passed over due to the Officer not liking them or asserting they did not do enough to earn the award. That's pretty grim when the officer is to be impartial.......
I should say that some officers who at some stage in some wars whom were disliked by the troops may have met a premature end at the battle front and not by enemy fire..........!
I have had the great pleasure to visit Vimy Ridge many times. Total respect to all those school inturns from Canada each year who are so devoted to their task in making everyone who visits fully aware of their losses there.
I remember vividly standing in a Canadian trench corner, covered in a concrete slit trench no more than 20 feet from the German trench, which was the closest point on the line. The amount of grenades thrown at each other was phenominal, and must have had a desperate impact on morale.
RIP to all those young men on both sides who lost their lives on Vimy Ridge.
My Great Grandfather, Albert Henry MacDonald was there too serving as a cook in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. A railroad man by trade, he joined on 24 May 1916 in London, Ontario, aged 31. I never knew him as he died in his 50's. My Grandfather told stories passed on to him about the cooks making huge caldrons of mutton, (with hair and all), and no one in the family ever touched lamb for generations afterward! I have his picture, discharge certificate, cap badge, service medals and veteran pins framed on the wall here in my office.
Was any sort of "official" photograph taken of British/British Commonwealth soldiers before they left for France/active service. If so is there or was there a place where these pictures were held and can copies still be obtained? I have seen many pictures of WW1 soldiers which look as if it was the last picture taken before they left for the front and they all look very similar apart from the persons face.
The reason that I ask is that I would like to obtain a photo of a distant relative in uniform during WW1 who was wounded in action, taken prisoner and died of his wounds in captivity, aged 20. The only picture that I found was a very poor quality one in the London Gazette.
The type you refer to, like the one I posted are about all there is. If man didn't get a photo taken for mother locally, and some didn't, then there well may be no record of the man whatsoever. Cameras weren't a family toy like today. Even when I went to basic, the only way we got pics was because a man had a Polaroid and it made pics on the spot. We paid him $1 for each picture in 1974. I was only paid $330 gross then... There are cases of soldiers of the great war that have no known pics. Imagine today, a man growing to 20 odd years and there being no known pics of him?Quote:
Originally Posted by Flying10uk
Many units had giant group photos done just before deployment, you can't really make out anyone in them, in many cases.
There was a picture taken, similar to yours, and I have actually seen it but unfortunately my Gran lost it a long time before she passed away and it was never found among her belongings after she died.
Yes, that was what most men had made...some cases with pals too. Although I can't say what was done in the UK...I'm not very familiar.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flying10uk
If he was killed it is very likely that his photo appeared in the local papers; you may be able to find a copy in some local respository. There was often a "roll of honour" section in the papers where the never-ending stream of casualties appeared, if as mentioned, their families could provide a photo. If he went to a school that had photos of classes taken that might be another option. The old prints often enlarge surprisingly well.
If you knew his battalion you can perhaps find the roll of honour book for that for 1914-18 some battalion books have pics some dont.
The photo I have is a a head and shoulders shot. The quality isn't too good as it's a copy of the original. I'm not sure who has that one. There aren't many left on my Mum's side of the family.
I have a copy of his service record although parts are difficult to read because some of the British WW1 records were lost or damaged in WW2 when the building they were held in was bombed. He was in the Kensingtons, a London T.A. regiment and he joined up in 1911. The form which he filled in when he joined the T.A. in 1911 asks for his occupation, as one of the questions and he has replied, "Nil, at school".
Does anyone know if the British equivalent of "The Roll of Honour Book", that Cinders mentions, is the London Gazette or were they two separate things please? I did get a poor quality image from the London Gazette.
As far as I'm aware, The London Gazette was only used for Awards and Promotions in the Military and Civilian sectors.
I would certainly look to the Regimental archive, and if he served in "The Kensingtons" which is Princess Louise's, I am sure they will have a thorough record and timeline of all who served such a unit, TA or otherwise.
Contact the Curator at:
Princess Louise's Kensington Regiment Museum
I'm sure they'll only be too glad to help.;)
This is the only picture I have which was attached to the write up following his death. I have included an extract of this in the second picture.
Remarkable story, especially so as Neuve Chapelle woods claimed a whole Battalion. I dug out shrapnel from the base of many a tree there over the years, it got absolutely pasted.
I have gold broach which his mother or sister use to wear with his photo inside, following his death and this passed to my Gran who eventually passed it to me. Unfortunately she had his photo removed and her's and my Grandfather's put in it's place, then she lost the original picture which I would like to replace. I will post pictures of the locket another day. His immediate family were, understandably, devastated by his death but came to terms with it, I believe, following a visit to the gr
A million such tragedies are said to make a statistic. Perhaps only because a million tragedies is more than the human psyche can sustain.
Met a man now long dead whose brother was one of those three time MM winners. Their mother had gone to comfort a local woman whose sons and husband had all been killed, the last near the end of the war. This woman threw her sympathy back in her face saying, "how can you understand, you who still have your husband and your other sons?"
Better to be the living or the dead?
Here are some pictures that I mentioned earlier, in post 23, of the gold broach. As previously mentioned, it use to contain a photograph of the soldier and was worn by either his mother or sister following his death in WW1.
It is extremely lucky that this item still exists today because in 1968 when my Grandfather was seriously ill and dying in hospital from cancer someone burgled my Grandparent's home while my Gran was visiting him in hospital. The thieves stole all but 1 item of jewellery in the house at the time and anything else of value that they could find. Fortunately my Gran decided to wear this item on the day of the burglary and so it was not stolen.
If I could get a reasonable photo of the soldier I would get it replaced in the locket.
You've now completely taken the thread from the thoughts of the Canadians that died on Vimy ridge... P*ss me off...
You've always got to find someone to criticise on this Forum, Jim.
Focus.
I saw that one, I'm guessing they're from BATUS or Wainwright...and of course the second vid confirmed it. They must have felt at home marching on to "Black bear"...HOY!
Don't tell me what to do Jim.Quote:
Originally Posted by browningautorifle
Met a chap a few days ago who is going to cycle some hundreds of Kms in France for a soldier's charity. He became quite emotional talking for a moment about his two great uncles who were KIA at Vimy on April 9th. I was rather touched that it meant so much to him, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one there who was. On the other hand, there was the woman whose grandfather was an officer at Gallipoli and who told me she would love to get rid of the tin campaign trunk with all her GF's letters and effects in it. She was rather annoyed that her mother, his daughter, still wished to keep it all. I didn't tell her what I thought of that idea.
It's good that the locket means so much to you Flying10uk; the less we have the more we appreciate it? The tragedies of the past were no less real than those of the present, worse in fact for your family and breadwinners were your social safety net, below which what was there? The Work House, prison, Borstal, Barnardos or worse.