Yesterday I heard two presenters say that Remembrance Day is not to be confused with Veteran’s Day. Armistice Day is on 11 November and is also known as Remembrance Day. It marks the day World War One ended, at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, in 1918. A two-minute silence is held at 11am to remember the people who have died in wars.
Like everyone else, I am disappointed that the Don Cherry fiasco stole so much from the highlights of a beautiful day remembering those soldiers in our families and in our Nation who offered the ultimate sacrifice in past wars, Afghanistan and because of selfless service.
I was really pleased about attending the commemoration at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium this year and taking in the various rituals, but indoors, while cozy warm. Last year, we headed to the cenotaph downtown and it got a bit cold at times, although it was also an amazing experience. Next year, the field of crosses.
The seats were assigned, as we arrived. This created a sense of calm and order. Beautiful music was provided by the HMCS Tecumseh Band along with Jeanette Embree, Detachment Commander, CF Recruiting Center, Director of Music, Royal Canadian Navy Reserve. What a lovely repertoire.
I thought about my Dad while singing this hymn. I used to sit next to Mom in the Protestant Chapel pews while Dad directed or sang in the choir. I felt them beside me yesterday…and I felt surrounded by my family, many who have served. My Great Uncle Joseph Gallant gave the ultimate sacrifice, as did my Great Grandfather John Moors. This hymn was a perfect one to bring everyone home to me.
While we were prompted to save our applause until the very end of the laying of the wreaths, two of our Veterans from the Colonel Belcher caused our hearts to stir and we broke into wild applause. I cried my face off at these points in the service, as well as during the Last Post. Our friend, Helena, laid a wreath on behalf of the Alberta Retired Teachers. We were very proud of her for representing us.
After the commemorative service, and as we were leaving, I noticed that Ralph MacLean, the 97 year old Veteran who had served with Canadians in Hong Kong in 1941. Please follow the link and listen to his story on the Memory Project. Through various circumstances and very quickly, I connected with Ralph’s son, daughter and grandson, author of Forgiveness, author Mark Sakamoto.
I won’t soon forget the kind hearts of Ralph’s family.
I had the opportunity to exchange quite a number of stories with Ralph and I feel that it was a huge blessing to meet him. I will be visiting him at the Colonel Belcher.
As I took my evening walk, slow around the circle because Max is ailing badly, I took in the beauty of the day, my friendships with Janet and Pat, my children, the freedoms I enjoy. I thought about my family and their huge military connections. I contemplated including their photographs here…but, I’m leaving the images of their faces and my research in my heart. I’ll leave it all up to peace…the sky…the river. I will always Remember.
This morning, at 11:00 on the 11th day of the 11th month…I will remember. I am forever-grateful for the service of my family members…some of them acknowledged here. I especially remember the 100th anniversary of the armistice and those who represented Canada in World War I, the Great War. Click on the individual images in order to enlarge.
Max and I managed to fit in a beautiful morning hike at Frank’s Flats, arriving home as the last post and the Remembrance Day observances at Parliament Hill were just beginning. I always get quite emotional about these rituals as I am very respectful of my family’s military roots and I am flooded with love for all of my family, as well as friends who commemorate the service of their family members at this time of year.
I decided some time yesterday to attend the tour at Burnsland Cemetery this year and to learn a little about the various Regiments that served out of Calgary and the rest of Canada.
From the City of Calgary website, this…
Burnsland cemetery dates back to 1923 and includes many of Calgary’s World War I Veterans. The Calgary Heritage Authority has deemed the cemetery to be a historically significant cultural landscape that played an important part in the settlement and establishment of Calgary as a city.
The Remembrance Day ad…
Take a free guided tour of the 13-hectare Burnsland Cemetery and learn more about some of the heroes that were laid to rest here. There are more than 22,000 buried at this cemetery, including many of Calgary’s veterans from the First World War. This tour is also an opportunity to reflect on the Canadian Military and RCMP traditions.
The tour begins at 2 p.m. and runs until 3:30 p.m.
Initially, there was some confusion for me about where to meet up. I parked within the Burnsland Cemetery, got out of my vehicle and the first person I met was someone I had met years ago, when my son was just a toddler. Brenda Driscoll is an artist who I met when grouped with nine other Canadian artists on a horse trip up the Sheep River. It was quite a journey and I really felt close to Brenda from the onset. She was an experienced horse woman and I had zero experience. There were some very good laughs. I liked her so much that I painted her into one of my monumental canvases titled, So Where Do I Begin?
There she was this afternoon, all these years later, walking quietly between the rows of markers, actually seeking out her own father’s resting place. Together, we found our way to the group. I already knew that it would be an awesome event.
I desperately want to learn the name of the Calgary Parks staff member who led our tour this afternoon. She was brilliant, articulate and did an awesome job personalizing the story of war…dealing honestly with the positive as well as the very dark side of war and the mistakes, as well as successes of Canadians in various periods of our war history.
Walker, like all the commissioned officers of the force, faced the same hardships as the enlisted men with the added responsibility of caring for the new recruits, (most of them city boys – some as young as 15 – with little or no experience in the frontier) and assuring their safety and the success of the expedition. Walker and Col. Macleod, at one point, had to leave the expedition and travel on alone to procure extra supplies and horses to replace those which had died along the way.
Walker was promoted to superintendent in 1876 and sent back East to arrange for new recruits. While in Ottawa, he was instructed to take some of the recruits and a troop of more experienced policemen (they were two year veterans but you became “experienced” very quickly under their conditions) to Battleford to establish a Mounted Police fort and provide an escort for the treaty commissioners who were travelling in the same area.
The next historical resting place was that of Colonel David Ritchie, MC. 1924- 1941
Colonel Ritchie was born in Cumberland, England in 1882 and lived in the United Kingdom until 1911. Having joined the Dumfrieshire County Police at age 17, he followed this career path in Canada by joining the Calgary Police Force (as it was known then), reaching the rank of Detective. He served with the plain clothes squad until enlisting in the CEF in 1915. He arrived in England as a Lieutenant of the 137th Battalion, and promoted to Captain while in the UK. After transfer to a combat battalion in France, he was wounded at Amiens in August 1918, and was still in hospital with his leg wound when the Armistice was declared in November.
After return to Calgary in 1919, he was presented with his Military Cross by the Prince of Wales who visited the city in September of that year. He rejoined the Calgary Police Force, becoming Chief Constable (the highest rank on the Force) on 15 September 1919. Ritchie’s impact on the Force was notable, for such things as the introduction of parking tickets and the School Safety Patrol in 1921, to the first installation of radios in police cars and motorcycles.
While Chief of Police, he enlisted in The Calgary Highlanders in 1922 as a Captain, with promotion to Major following in short order. In 1924, he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel and made Commanding Officer of the Regiment. His command lasted from 1924 to 1929, during which time he was promoted to Colonel.
After retirement from the Highlanders, became president of the Alberta Military Institute in 1930 and president of the Alberta Infantry Association the next year. His interest in sports, despite his injured leg, led to presidency of the Alberta Highland Games Association. Colonel Ritchie died in 1941 aged 39, after having been Chief of the Calgary Police Force for 22 years. sic
While his age is recorded as 39 on the Calgary Highlander’s website, the Lieutenant Colonel would have been 59 when he passed away in 1941.
Next, to the Cowe family plot.
At the Cowe family plot, we learned about the ‘Victorian’ ways of the community at the time, very hierarchical in its ways and temperament. Colonization was just like that, wasn’t it? We learned that a huge segment of the Calgary population was from Scotland. This is exemplified in the Scottish thistle that appears on the decorated stone. We focused on John who was killed in action in Gallipoli in Turkey. Right away I thought about Russell Crowe’s most recent movie, The Water Diviner. We were told, if you went to Gallipoli, you didn’t come home…it was just that horrific. Canadian troops were there to support the British.
Out of the narratives at this stone, I learned a brief history of our ‘Blue Puttees’, our brave soldiers, eventually to be given the title, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.
“The losses sustained by the 1st Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont-Hamel on July 1, 1916, were staggering. Of the 801 Newfoundlanders who went into battle that morning, only 68 were able to answer the roll call the next day, with 255 dead, 386 wounded and 91 missing. The dead included 14 sets of brothers, including four lieutenants from the Ayre family of St. John’s.”
The tour group was absolutely silent; some of us, crying.
May they rest in peace.
At the resting place of Catherine de Bellefeville, I learned that those who served as nursing sisters, were immediately given the rank of Lieutenant. During this part of the presentation I learned that just over 50 nursing sisters lost their lives in the Great War, some working in hospitals where injured men were being cared for. It was under this circumstance that my own great grandfather, John Moors, died, along with some of his caregivers on May 19, 1918.
At the resting place of Major Reverend Canon William H. Morgan, we learned that there was dispute over how many chaplains should be engaged for the purpose of battle. Sir Samuel Hughes, deemed both energetic and controversial, seemed to be the person with the power to decide. There were 527 chaplains recruited in World War I, with a very small number of Catholic chaplains, given his particular bias.
One chaplain was mentioned specifically as we stood at this stone…John Weir Foote, awarded the Victory Cross after the war.
From Wikipedia, a further explanation of the circumstances of his loss, as explained by our tour guide…
On August 19, 1942 at Dieppe, France, Captain Foote coolly and calmly during the eight hours of the battle walked about collecting the wounded. His gallant actions saved many lives and inspired those around him by his example. At the end of this grueling time, he climbed from the landing craft that was to have taken him to safety and deliberately walked into the German position in order to be taken prisoner, so that he could be of help to those men who would be in captivity until May 5, 1945.
May he rest in peace.
Here, at the resting place of Pte. George Stewart, we were given a brief background on the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. We learned that Canadians were viewed as the work horses…the strong arm…by the British. Our soldiers earned the respect of all for their courage and determination. I hope that my readers will follow my link, studying the role that the PPCLI played in world conflict, with some very specific events and citations in the Korean and Afghanistan conflicts.
May they rest in peace.
At the resting place of Pte. William J. Ware, son of black cowboy, John Ware, we learned of some of the disturbing inconsistencies in the day, due to race. If you were black, you had to enlist directly with a battalion. Procedures could not be the same. Once enlisted, a black man was moved into a Construction battalion, assigned to heavy labour and often going ahead of armed battalions with lumber and other burdens. There was even a resistance to taking black soldiers when recruitment offices were in dyer need of numbers. Ware was a member of the No. 2 Construction Battalion (an all Black battalion) serving in France, with the majority of the men being assigned to the No. 5 Canadian Forestry Corps (Jura Group).
Dissimilarly, First Nations men were welcomed with open arms because, again, for stereotypical reasons, they were viewed as hunters, strong men, survivors. The sad part of the story took place when they returned home. Soldiers were promised a land grant when they returned home. It was only our First Nations who were refused these grants upon their return. Sadly, along with this, because they had served their country, their status was taken away. I don’t know if Canadians know these things. I didn’t. A book recommendation on this subject is Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. From the Canadian War Museum, this…
I had just recently learned about Mary Dover, and today, I found myself standing before her resting place. Please read about the Women’s Army Corp of Canada.
May they rest in peace…
A tour of Calgary’s Burnsland cemetery would not be complete without thinking about the members of the Lord Strathcona Horse (Royal Canadians). Again, a very amazing history. It is quite an accomplishment when a regiment receives the title Royal. The more personal narrative shared was about Gordon Muriel FlowerdewVC (2 January 1885 – 31 March 1918)
For most conspicuous bravery and dash when in command of a squadron detailed for “special services of a very important nature. On reaching his first objective, Lieutenant Flowerdew saw two lines of enemy, each about sixty strong, with machine guns in the centre and flanks; one line being about two hundred yards behind the other. Realizing the critical nature of the operation and how much depended on it, Lieut. Flowerdew ordered a troop under Lieut. Harvey, VC, to dismount and carry out a special movement, while he led the remaining three troops to the charge. The squadron (less one troop) passed over both lines, killing many of the enemy with the sword; and wheeling about galloping on them again. Although the squadron had then lost about 70 per cent of its members, killed and wounded from rifle and machine gun fire directed on it from the front and both flanks, the enemy broke and retired. The survivors of the squadron then established themselves in a position where they were joined, after much hand-to-hand fighting, by Lieut. Harvey’s part. Lieut. Flowerdew was dangerously wounded through both thighs during the operation, but continued to cheer his men. There can be no doubt that this officer’s great valour was the prime factor in the capture of the position.”
His Victoria Cross was one of twenty awarded during the battles of the German and Allied Offensives in the Amiens Area in 1918.
Today, we remember…
Well…this has been quite the post. Can you tell that I am absolutely amazed by military history?
I missed the last two or three parts of the tour, because the story at the very next sight sent Brenda and I off, in search of her father. At the age of one, her father died in a training accident as he was a pilot in the forces.
Our tour guide explained that typically if a plane went down at one of the many Alberta training centers, two men lost their lives, as confirmed by the matching dates on their stones.
We were also told that it was a very sad thing that soldiers from New Zealand and far parts of Canada came to Alberta for their training. When a soldier died, he was buried in the country where he lost his life. With so many pilots lost in training, this made it tremendously sad for grieving families living so far away, but it has been the way. As the group moved along, Brenda and I remained behind. She knew only that her father had died in October, 1943 and that he was resting in Burnsland Cemetery.
After a very short time, Brenda was reunited with her father. What an amazing experience! May he rest in peace.
We spent some time there…chatting…noticing the flower that was set before his stone. As we left to walk back to our cars…I felt very grateful for the afternoon and for the opportunity to remember.
There, a short distance from my car, was my son-in-law’s friend, Brad. Brenda and I said our good-byes, with promises to connect and I was able to take a photo of Brad along side his great grandfather’s resting place. Such an amazing day!
It turned out to be quite a day for the lady with the camera…a very beautiful day!
I had the morning to enjoy the fact that my egress window was under construction. Once the crew packed up and the shop-vac was loaded into the truck, I headed over for a lovely afternoon in Jenn’s classroom! Love what this lady does with her class, especially her writing activities! Halloween, just passed, I have to post these…a fantastic idea for learning the art of writing descriptive paragraphs. Give the students their own gourd! Look at these! Amazing!
Once settled in, attendance taken, quiet reading and a recitation of ‘In Flander’s Fields’, I got the students prepped for their afternoon Remembrance Day Liturgy in the gym. I have to say that I’m so grateful for the Catholic School District, where we are free to openly pray and share scripture. The celebration was so wonderfully organized by Grades 2, 4 and 5. No surprise, but I silently shed some tears in the back of the gym where I sat…it was such a touching service. I liked the music so much. The grade fives sang Dropkick Murphy’s The Green Fields of France.
The Grade four choir sang, so beautifully, In Flander’s Fields. Amazing job, Tracy and Melina. I’m posting the same number performed by another children’s choir.
Once the liturgy had ended, there were only 40 minutes left to explore the poppy lesson that I had taught last week in a full afternoon. The children, though, were so receptive and task oriented, I decided to see what we could accomplish. Well…to my amazement…we reflected, created depictions, used oil pastel for detail after blocking the poppies in with chalk, and finally, filled in the petals with brilliant red paint. I really like these and find the finished works remind me a lot of Georgia O’Keefe’s poppies…perhaps providing a window to a written reflection. Thank you for your class, Jenn. What an awesome afternoon!
I loved these sensitive little drawings so much that I’m going to post them all!
Photograph and Toronto Star newspaper archive located here.
The Toronto Star: May 25, 1918
(My great grandfather, John Moors, was one of the Canadians killed in this German raid in Etaples, France)
Subtitle: Wonderful Courage of Sisters Under Rain of Hun Bombs Told by Toronto Star’s Special Correspondent – All Volunteer When Matron Calls – Monster Bomb Blows to Bits
SOLDIER’S BURIAL FOR THE GIRLS WHO DIED
Special Cable to The Star by F. A. McKenzie, Copyright
Hospital City in France, May 25 –
German kultur has shown itself again in the deliberate murder of Canadian and British nurses, doctors, orderlies and patients under circumstances of such appalling callousness that even those life myself who have witnessed endless German misdeeds since the early Belgian days turn away sickened. I have just been hearing the brave simple tales of our nurses who escaped. No words would sufficiently emphasize ones sense of their splendid conduct.
The hospital city is a well-known district placed around a valley in a sandy channel near the coast, where a large number of temporary hospitals have been grouped together. Since the early days of the war it has been frequently described in great detail. It’s position and its purpose are as perfectly well-known to the Germans as to ourselves.
Until Sunday our authorities, not believing that even the Germans would deliberately bomb a large hospital centre, left the place entirely open. Two big Canadian hospitals were there. These consisted of tents and wooden galvanized iron huts. There were no bomb-proof shelters, as shelter-giving protection even from bomb fragments.
Sad Sequel to Concert
On Sunday evening there had been a concert. The sisters returning to quarters suddenly heard a loud humming, and immediately one monster bomb fell direct upon the sleeping quarters of the Canadian orderlies and the other personnel. Many were blown to bits. Fire began and this gave the enemy a target. The survivors rushed up in an attempt to extinguish the flames. Those soon, however, made the whole area visible, thus clearly showing it even if the Germans did not know before what the place was.
The enermy airmen rained down bomb after bomb, some of small calibre solely man-killing bombs, others of a very large size. Two doctors, rushing to help, were caught by a bomb. One was killed and the other wounded. All the lights were immediately turned out except the little hand lamps with which the doctors and nursing sisters hastily sought to help the wounded. Sisters in night quarters were ordered to lie down under their beds.
All the Nurses Volunteer
The matron of No. 7 called two volunteers to move across the open under bomb fire and give needed help. Every sister present immediately volunteered. She took the nearest two, who moved out unhesitantly, as though selected for a special honour.
One bomb fell among five sisters in quarter No. 1, killing one sister almost instantly and wounding five others, of whom one died shortly afterwards. Another was very seriously hurt. The conduct of the patients, mostly British private soldiers, was magnificent. Their chief anxiety was lest the sisters should be hurt. In Ward 1, where one sister persisted in exposing herself in order to help, the men patients held her down, refusing to let her court almost certain destruction. Between bombs, doctors, nurses and patients able to move got about helping the injured and instantly flinging themselves on the ground as each bomb fell. There was nowhere to take anyone for shelter, for the huts were like tissue paper under the fire.
The first German squadron, after about a three-quarter-hour bombardment, sailed away. Immediately all energy was concentrated upon relieving the injured. British soldiers arrived to help and then a second German squadron came. Altogether four squadrons attacked this hospital city. Nearly every hospital besides the Canadian was bombed. The one exception was the hospital next the the German prison camp. The prison camp itself also escaped, the enemy evidently knowing its location. The total casualties amounted to many hundreds. Our Canadian list, you have officially received.
Given Soldiers’ Funerals
The funeral was held Tuesday in a beautiful cemetery near the pine woods and the sea. Everyone attended. Our girls were given a soldier’s burial. The Germans returned Tuesday night. This time, however, preparations had been made to repel them, compelling their retirement. Immediate steps were taken to make the camp more safe against attack, the nurses being taken to sleep at night time in the woods some distance away. Dugouts are now being hastily built to give all shelter. Yesterday afternoon steel helmets were served out to the nurses. One cannot fail to see how heavy the strain has been on them.
The story of this outrage is arousing the whole army to fury. Australian troops, besides our own, particularly swearing vengeance against every German. Many of the victims were Ontario folk.
Special recognition should be given to the orderlies who suffered so heavily, Canadian men being killed and injured. Many of these orderlies were elderly men who had served for years with their units since the early days of the war, doing service whose faithfulness and excellence aroused general respect.
All Deserve the V. C.
“Every night sister deserves the Victoria Cross for the way they kept on,” say the day sisters, but both day and night sisters have had an experience which showed to the full their splendid qualities. frankly, no words can give an idea of the horrors of Sunday night’s scene. It’s only relieving feature was the courage and faithfulness of all our people.
One German plane brought down contained two airmen, who declared they did not know there was a hospital below. This is incredible. Certainly their superiors knew, while the burning buildings must have revealed the position even to the blindest airman. They flew at a very low height, under brilliant moonlight. Their idea of ignorance is a cowardly evasion, adding horror to their crime. F.A. McKenzie
Nursing Sister, Katherine Maude Macdonald of Brantford, who is reported killed in action, May 19, is the first Canadian nurse who is known to have died in this attack on the hospitals.
Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you. Marsha Norman
Each year, I remember. As I delve deeper into my family history, I actually become more and more connected to our story. Some people opt out of the recognition of Remembrance Day, but for our family, there are some deep and important reasons why we take time to pause and reflect on the sacrifice of our own family members.
John Moors (my father) and Katherine Moors (my mother)
I am going to merely link to the stories that I have, in the past, posted here.
John Moors Etaples Image collected from Ancestry.ca in my family research. Canada, War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty), 1914-1948
Plot 65, Row C, Grave 6 Document retrieved from Ancestry.ca Canada, War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty), 1914-1948
Yesterday I ended up on another tangent. My retirement seems to be an entire series of tangents, that seem for a time to be about everything else, but always lead back to me, my identity and what my soul speaks. My great grandfather John Moors of the 54th Battalion was in a #51 General Hospital bed near Etaples. Out of nowhere, on the night of May 19, 1918, the enemy conducted a shameful air strike that left nurses and many patients wounded or as in my great grandfather’s case, dead. Thanks to The Great War forum and other Canadian archives, I was able to find several artifacts, including this silent film, an actual archive of the devastation, that relay the horror of that night. I am left to really think about the countless men and women who lost their lives in the years 1914 to 1918. I feel the strength and courage of my family of soldiers coursing through my own blood. It is a sacred bloodline.
A Post Card to His Son: in Possession of John Moors, his Grand Son
Map of Etaples Training Camp found on The First World War Poetry Digital Archive: Link for Site Follows.
“Received telephone message from A/Principal Matron, Etaples, saying that the Etaples hospitals had been severely bombed during the night. One Sister (Nursing Sister K. Macdoneald, CAMC) had been killed and 7 wounded at No.1 Canadian Hospital, also many patients and personnel. At No. 7 Canadian General Hospital there were no casualties among the nursing stuaff but 3 MOs were wounded and some patients killed. The Nurses’ Club was wrecked but the two BRCS workers were not hurt. At No. 26 General Hospital there were 2 minor casualties among the nursing staff – Miss Marshall, VAD slightly wounded on the head and admitted to hospital, and Miss Draper, VAD slightly wounded in the writst. One patient only was killed in this unit. Part of the Sisters’ quarters were wrecked and one or two of the rooms nearest the railway siding are unfit for use. There were no casualties among the nursing staff at No.24 General Hospital. This unit took in a large number of casualties from the Infantry Base Depot and the Household Calvalry Camp. At No. 46 Stationary Hospital one VAD, Miss W.A.Brampton was somewhat shell-shocked. A number of patients were killed and wounded. At No.56 General Hospital there were no casualties among the nursing staff but some amongst patients and personnel. Nos. 35, 37, 4 and 2 Ambulance Trains were in the siding at the time and were damaged, the only casualty amongst the nursing staff being S/Nurse M. de H. Smith, slightly wounded above the eye. The Matron-in-Chief, CEF, the Matron-in-Chief, QAIMNS War Office, and DGMS were informed of all casualties.”
Subsequent diary entries took place when the Matron-in-Chief makes her visits. On the 22nd…she writes.
“Left for Etaples in the afternoon, arriving at the DDMS office at 7 p.m. Went with the A/Principal Matron, Miss Stronach, to No.1 Canadian General Hospital where I called upon the Matron, Miss Campbell, and inspected the quarters where the recent terrible raid had occurred and saw the rooms which had been absolutely destroyed, also the adjacent building of HRH Princess Victoria’s Rest Club for Nurses which is more or less in ruins. The only thing left intact in the building was Her Royal Highness’s picture which was on a small table on the ground floor, neither table nor picture being touched. I saw the seriously wounded Sister, Miss Lowe, CAMC who was being nursed in a hut as her condition was too serious to allow of moving her to the Sick Sisters’ Hospital. She was just conscious but was very ill.” Sister Lowe later succumbed to her wounds.
“20.05.18 Sick Sisters 207 Etaples bombed: Received telephone message from A/Principal Matron, Etaples, saying that the Etaples hospitals had been severely bombed during the night. One Sister (Nursing Sister K. Macdonald, CAMC) had been killed and 7 wounded at No.1 Canadian General Hospital, also many patients and personnel. At No.7 Canadian General Hospital there were no casualties among the nursing staff but 3 MOs were wounded and some patients killed. The Nurses’ Club was wrecked but the two BRCS workers were not hurt. At No.26 General Hospital there were 2 minor casualties among the nursing staff – Miss Marshall, VAD slightly wounded on the head and admitted to hospital, and Miss Draper, VAD slightly wounded in the wrist. One patient only was killed in this unit. Part of the Sisters’ quarters were wrecked and one or two of the rooms nearest the railway siding are unfit for use. There were no casualties among the nursing staff at No.24 General Hospital. This unit took in a large number of casualties from the Infantry Base Depot and the Household Cavalry Camp. At No.46 Stationary Hospital one VAD, Miss W. A. Brampton, was somewhat shell-shocked. A number of patients were killed and wounded. At No.56 General Hospital there were no casualties among the nursing staff but some amongst patients and personnel. Nos. 35, 37, 4 and 2 Ambulance Trains were in the siding at the time and were damaged, the only casualty amongst nursing staff being S/Nurse M. de H. Smith, slightly wounded above the eye. The Matron-in-Chief, CEF, the Matron-in-Chief, QAIMNS War Office, and DGMS were informed of all casualties.”
With gratitude to the National Archives of Canada for their rich archival collection. I intend for this information, from a wide variety of sources, to honour my grandfather and my family and to help us complete a narrative of our national history as it relates to one family.
