Letters from France

[Sapper740]

109 years ago three brothers set sail from Halifax as members of the 100th Battalion Winnipeg Grenadiers, unfortunately only one was to survive the war, my grandfather. One brother of his, Lt. William Joseph Chalk was shot down on April 14, 1917 while flying as an observer in an RE8 reconnaisance aircraft with pilot 2Lt.Herbert George MacMillan Horne who died in the crash. Official records list my great Uncle as taken POW but the date of his death is the same day as he was taken prisoner so it is assumed he succumbed to injuries received from the crash or from being hit by bullets from the German fighter. The other brother, Bert Chalk was injured by shrapnel and was invalided home after months of care in a French hospital. He only ever recovered 20% of the use of his right arm and sadly died of the Influenza outbreak of 1918 scant days before the Armistice.
I'm always searching for more info about my family and was recently rewarded by discovery of a letter written by a soldier Pvt. Lawrence Charles Sinclair who knew my Great Uncle and wrote to his (Lawrence's) mother of how grateful Bert was to receive a small parcel from her before he was injured. The letter is a poignant snippet of a moment in history of how even the smallest kindness is greatly appreciated.
Please read more here: document 62111 | Canadian Letters

[Surpmil]

I expect you've seen these Sapper740?

The average life expectancy for flying officers in the RFC at that period was measured in weeks. One of my great uncles was among them, but was lucky enough to become a POW in mid-1917.

[Sapper740]

Yes, thank you. You note it says he died "for official purposes" on April 14, 1917. Official notification from the Germans said he was taken as a POW but died the same day as the crash. I did a lot of research in the hope of finding more about the circumstances of my Great Uncles death and found that he and his pilot were in a flight of eight RE8 aircraft that missed connecting with their fighter cover. They pressed on regardless as their higher ups were desperate for intel as to how much damage was done to the German lines by a mammoth artillery bombardment. My Great Uncle and his fellow aviators had the great misfortune of running into none other than Jasta 11.....Manfred von Richtofen's unit. The Red Baron shout down 2 or 3 of the RE8's and made note of their tail numbers which he added to his total. It wasn't Richtofen that shot down my Great Uncle's aircraft and I haven't been able to find definitively who did but Jasta 11 had some of the German's greatest aces in its number: Ernst Udet, Herman Goering, a brother and cousin of Manfred von Richtofen, just to name a few.

[Surpmil]

Yes, presumably "died of wounds" would have been the most likely explanation, but it seems that was not ascribed unless it could be proven.

The Baron specialized in easy pickings; his death being due to his abandonment on that occasion of his usual caution, and out-running his supporters. "Target-fixation" I think it's called now.

[Riter]

Beneath the standing rafters....

[Sapper740]

We meet neath the sounding rafter,
And the walls around are bare;
As they shout back our peals of laughter
It seems that the dead are there.
Ho! stand to your glasses steady!
'T is all we have left to prize.
A cup to the dead already,—
Hurrah for the next that dies!


Bartholomew Dowling