Daily Archives: 4/6/2007
They Are the Dead
| 4/6/2007 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
This entry is about 30,000 dead Canadians, actually it is about 1.5million dead Canadians, my grandfather was among them, but I’m only going to talk about 30,000 of them. Ninety years ago this weekend, these 30,000 Canadians, four divisions of soldiers, were mustering around a ridge in France called Vimy where over 150,000 Allied soldiers of other countries had already died trying to dislodge the well dug in Germans.
They had come from across this country, there were troops from all the then nine provinces, all volunteers to fight for King and country. To fight to protect those at home, to keep them (and us) free to live our lives in peace.
Back home, their friends, families, loved ones were attending Good Friday services throughout the land, for in those days the majority of Canadians attended church regularly. They were preparing for Easter Sunday and the celebration of the risen Christ on Easter Sunday. In a land of only 8 million people, there were few of those people who weren’t thinking about people they knew ‘over there’.
Back in France, the Canadian troops had been training behind the lines for weeks. This would be the first time that a unified Canadian force would go into combat together. It would be the first time in Canadian history that a major battle would be devised and commanded by a Canadian, Gen Arthur Currie. Among those troops was a young soldier I would eventually come to know, Charles S. Rutherford.
It was a daunting task they were about to engage in. There wouldn’t be a man among them who wouldn’t look around at their comrades and wonder which ones would not be there when the battle ended, or if he’d be there.
When not doing the work of preparing for the battle to start, those young Canadians would be preparing themselves. Hunkered down in tunnels and trenches, part of some 10,000km of them built during the war, some would write letters home, mindful that it might be the last letter they ever wrote. Others would spend time in prayer, or trying to distract themselves from dwelling on the coming danger. Still others would cover their fear with bravado and cutting up.
I expect the Chaplains would have been leading worship services, although not in churches like the folks back home would be attending. They would be whatever space was available and whatever setup could be put into place. Some of the men would have had a quiet word with the Chaplains, making their peace with God, setting their minds to some ease.
The artillery bombardment would have been going on for almost a week while all this was happening. The largest bombardment in history, over 1million shells were used. The Germans responded in a counter bombardment that sent some of the troops diving for cover while others watched carefully where the shells came from and then brought shelling to bear on the locations resulting in the knocking out of about 80% of the German guns. No one would be able to forget the task ahead of them.
In the cold wet pre-dawn of Easter Monday the order came that they had been training for. The advance was to begin –30,000 Canadians and a division of British troops were on the move to do for real what they had been doing in their training, only this time, the enemy fire was for real.
They moved in what became known as the ‘Vimy glide’, artillery barrages just ahead of the troops sent the Germans scurrying for cover allowing the Canadians to advance across no mans land between the trenches. Without the radio communications the troops would have today, the glide took incredible coordination. The artillery barrage too far in front of the advancing troops and the Germans would have time to emerge from their cover and put up a tough fight as the Canadians advanced. Too close to the troops, the Canadians became ‘friendly fire’ deaths.
When Queen Victoria was commissioning the Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth’s highest battle honour, she decreed it would be for ‘valour’ as all who went into battle are ‘brave’. There was no question our 30,000 Canadians were brave, they were being thrown against an objective which had already claimed more than five times their number. About 10,000 of their number fell that day — 3,600 of them dead.
I can’t begin to even know or imagine the horrors of what those Canadians experienced that day. They attained their objectives. The Germans were dislodged from the ridge but not before 20,000 of them were killed and another 4,000 captured. Hundreds of the dead would remain where they fell, even today there is so much unexploded ordinance in the ground, it isn’t safe to try to remove them for proper burial.
The battle was a major victory for several reasons not the least of which was it was the first major battle honour for Canadian troops fighting together as Canadian units rather than dispersed throughout the British units. It established a reputation for the abilities of our Canadian troops that endures to this day. For the Allies it was the first major victory they had attained in almost 18 months, it served as a turning point for the war. The end would not come until another nineteen months of horrors had passed.
Four Victoria Crosses were awarded at the Battle of Vimy Ridge — Pvt William Johnstone, Pvt John Pattison, Lance Sgt Ellis Sifton and Cpt Thaine McDowell. Johnstone and Sifton both died at Vimy, Pattison was killed in June 1917 and McDowell survived the war.
Of the remaining 20,000 Canadians left standing after the battle some would fight and die or be wounded another day. There are no figures available how many survived the war and returned home without physical injury. None of them came home the same people who had marched off to war. Of the wounded, some would recover and carry on their lives more scarred from their experience than their wounds. Others would never recover, living out their lives with varying degrees of disabilities.
They came home to a country which welcomed them back with open arms, threw victory parades and made speeches about a country’s undying grattitude, that their service and sacrifice would never be forgotten. Time moved on, the country was eager to get back to some semblance of normal. Memories faded, other Canadians, the veteran’s memories would always be carried with them.
France, in gratitude for the bravery of the Canadians at Vimy deeded Hill 145 to the Canadian government in perpetuity. On that piece of now Canadian soil, a huge monument to the memory of the 60,000 Canadians who died in the Great War was built.
The veterans went back to the cities, towns and villages they had come from. They farmed, worked in factories, started businesses, became captains of industry, entered politics. They did what was expected of them, they ‘got on with their lives’ — or tried to.
Some would never be able to ‘get on’. The experience of war overwhelmed them inhibiting their ability to settle into a normal life. Today we’d recognize them as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and they’d receive some care to try to help them recover. Not back then, the guys had to cope the best they could.
It would be years before their ‘grateful country’ would provide these veterans any benefits. Some would never receive any benefits, too proud to apply or just didn’t know they could. Others would die before the benefits were even available, often from the effects of their service to King and country.
As the years passed and World War 2 and then Korea happened, the awareness of the service and sacrifice of the WW1 veterans started to fade into history. Those veterans who remained often felt like part of forgotten history in a country of people who no longer cared what they had done to secure their freedom.
Ninety years have passed now. Those who survived the Great War have all lost the war of time. They have lived out their lives in varying lengths and taken their first hand knowledge and experiences of that horrific war to their graves. Some have left behind their stories, none could leave their experiences. All wanted their war to be the one to end all wars. None got that wish.
Ah yes, Charles Rutherford. He returned home from WW1 as Lieut. Rutherford and holder of the Victoria Cross, the Military Cross and the Military Medal. During WW2 he rejoined and served guarding royalty in Bermuda ending his military career as Capt. Rutherford. In June 1989 he lost his war of time, the last Canadian WW1 holder of the VC to die. He was buried with full military honours not more than 2kms from where I write this.
My grandfather, Cyril Instance, he returned home from WW1, married my grandmother and raised a family of five children including three sons who served in WW2. He worked driving streetcar for the Toronto Transit Commission until he retired to Grafton, ON to run a small greenhouse. As the years advanced he suffered Alzheimers and eventually had to be put into care. He was in care before he received any benefits due him for his service some 70 years earlier from his ever grateful country.
Lest we forget.
Follow Me!