The story started with a 1892 Christmas present to the world when William was born on 21 December 1892 at Cambusnethan, Wishaw, south east of Glasgow, Scotland. I've little to report on his youth other than a public school education and probably a little more before adventuring off, without his parents on a long journey to Canada in 1910.
He would find his way to Saskatchewan, lived and worked a farm about 50 kms from Moose Jaw. That farm was then... and to this day still called the Kirkland Farm, and his employer's descendants were still running it a few years back and perhaps still.
Willie worked the farm through the first year of the Great War but a few months before his 24th birthday he decided he would sign up with the army and get his whopping dollar a day for doing his duty.
He walked to the armoury in Moose Jaw in one day. It was a 50 km hike. (Not included in above figures.) It was just over 100 years ago, on 11 September 1915, that Willie became Private William Johnstone Milne, Serial # 427586, with the 46th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. (South Saskatchewan Regiment)
He would find his way to Saskatchewan, lived and worked a farm about 50 kms from Moose Jaw. That farm was then... and to this day still called the Kirkland Farm, and his employer's descendants were still running it a few years back and perhaps still.
Willie worked the farm through the first year of the Great War but a few months before his 24th birthday he decided he would sign up with the army and get his whopping dollar a day for doing his duty.
He walked to the armoury in Moose Jaw in one day. It was a 50 km hike. (Not included in above figures.) It was just over 100 years ago, on 11 September 1915, that Willie became Private William Johnstone Milne, Serial # 427586, with the 46th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. (South Saskatchewan Regiment)
Pte Milne would be with his regiment at Halifax six weeks later and boarding the White Star's monstrous SS Lapland on 21 October 1915 for the Atlantic crossing. They arrived at Devonport England on the 30th, or possible 2 November. Willie is shown above, possibly wearing the standard CEF collar dogs and cap badge, but would probably switch to the 46th cap badge (above) in England.
At its hay-day the Lapland could carry 450 Ist class, 400 2nd and 1,500 3rd class passengers per sailing. A year prior to William's sailing the carrier took part on the massive convoy of October 1914 that brought the first Canadian troops across the ocean for battle in Europe in the Great War. Shown above, the vessel also brought over 150 of the Titanic's rescued crew to England once released after the court enquirer in the US over the Titanic's sinking in April of 1912.
While serving with the 46th in England, William, like thousands of others got caught with his pants down, pardon the pun. His military file shows a loss about 17 days for 2 periods of treatment for Gonnorhoea. (The US would lose over 7 million lost days due to the disease in the war. The Brits between 1914 and 1918 would have over 400,000 cases, 66% being for STD's.)
He would lose another 22 days later in 1916 due to Influenza. But by then he had transferred over to the 16th Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Canadian Scottish Regiment. They formed part of the 3rd Brigade of Canada's First Division.
While serving with the 46th in England, William, like thousands of others got caught with his pants down, pardon the pun. His military file shows a loss about 17 days for 2 periods of treatment for Gonnorhoea. (The US would lose over 7 million lost days due to the disease in the war. The Brits between 1914 and 1918 would have over 400,000 cases, 66% being for STD's.)
He would lose another 22 days later in 1916 due to Influenza. But by then he had transferred over to the 16th Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Canadian Scottish Regiment. They formed part of the 3rd Brigade of Canada's First Division.
Pictured here are the Canadian Scottish's cap badge and a shoulder dog.
By the end of June the Regiment had sailed for Europe. William would fight along side his regiment through the skirmishes and battles the grime and mud and noise, the blood and destruction that led through all the towns and villages and the no man's land. Not knowing if he would live another day...till all of a sudden he and his mates ended up at one of the most horrific battles of the war.
The Battle of Vimy Ridge!
Along the Allies Western Front of WW1, the April 1917 Battle of Arras would become known as a momentous milestone in the History of Canada. It was here that, for the first time in the war, 4 Canadian Divisions came together to fight for the first time. They were joined by one British Division, and were tasked with dislodging the heavily fortified peak of a ridge near Vimy, aptly called the Vimy Ridge. It was about 200 feet high in some places, several kms long and well protected by some 30 to 40,000 Germans who had in the past repulsed attacks by both the French and British. It was now up to about 100,000 Canadian troops and of tens of thousands of Brits as well.
Since there is excellent information of the Battle of Vimy Ridge on the net, I will not retell the story here. But in brief, the position of the Canadian 4 divisions are running from top to bottom and along the left side of this map, and numbered by division. Arrow # 3 shows these. Arrow #4 points out the location of the first division, and within this were the Canadian Scottish and our hero William Milne. The troops battled eastward, to the right on the map and heading for... and over the ridge shown by the red line, arrow #2. The town of Vimy is show with arrow # 1
The Canadians and British not only took the ridge and drove the Germans back on the first of the 4 day battle but also took the town of Theus, arrow #6, the following day.
The Canadians and British not only took the ridge and drove the Germans back on the first of the 4 day battle but also took the town of Theus, arrow #6, the following day.
This painting shows the shelling of the ridge before the troops tackled it. You can see the ridge off in the distance. One in ten Canadians became a casualty over the four day battle, and over 3,600 would die from battle wounds.
Shown here area few of over 4,000 Germany soldiers captured. Above that are a few of the machine guns the Canadians also captured. Perhaps among these are the two that Saskatchewan's William Milne captured.
Milne's unit was given the task to advance towards the ridge and take out any obstacles in the way. William would actually crawl out under incredibly heavy fire and kill the crew of a machine gun nest, capture the gun and return to his lines. He would later in the day on that first day of battle, actually repeat the process and capture a 2nd gun, but his luck had run out and he was killed in the process.
Troops in the rear would move forth to gather the dead for transport to various grave yards, but some... like William and 43 others were buried in make shift graves in craters and just buried over with temporary markings. His crowded grave was marked with the number CA 40 and though required for later recovery and proper burial, this somehow did not happen. Now, almost a hundred years later, those 44 are still lying in an unmarked grave.
Milne's unit was given the task to advance towards the ridge and take out any obstacles in the way. William would actually crawl out under incredibly heavy fire and kill the crew of a machine gun nest, capture the gun and return to his lines. He would later in the day on that first day of battle, actually repeat the process and capture a 2nd gun, but his luck had run out and he was killed in the process.
Troops in the rear would move forth to gather the dead for transport to various grave yards, but some... like William and 43 others were buried in make shift graves in craters and just buried over with temporary markings. His crowded grave was marked with the number CA 40 and though required for later recovery and proper burial, this somehow did not happen. Now, almost a hundred years later, those 44 are still lying in an unmarked grave.
One of Canada's national treasures of course is the Vimy Monument in France. Almost 12,000 names of soldiers lost in France and with no known grave are inscribed here for all to see. Among them is William Milne's, and from the above you can see that for his heroism on 9 April 1917, he was awarded the Commonwealth's highest medal for bravery... the Victoria Cross. Sadly it had to be a posthumous award.
While researching William's story I came across this image of him on the net. It is most curious!
Clearly his VC was awarded posthumously, but someone decided it best to alter his picture to show him wearing the VC.
Look closely at the left of his left shirt pocket and there it is.
The enlarged photo on left show the medal a little clearer.
Here's what the London Gazette has to say about the man from Scotland.
Clearly his VC was awarded posthumously, but someone decided it best to alter his picture to show him wearing the VC.
Look closely at the left of his left shirt pocket and there it is.
The enlarged photo on left show the medal a little clearer.
Here's what the London Gazette has to say about the man from Scotland.
Four Victoria Crosses were awarded for Canadian heroism at Vimy Ridge. Milne's VC is on display at the wonderful National War Museum in Ottawa as are many VC medal groupings.
Back in Scotland 14 VC recipients came from the County of Lanarkshire Lake, and in the county town center of Hamilton there are marble blocks with info on each... including William Milne.
A flag pole in his honor once was located at the Canadian Legion at Caron, Saskatchewan.
Back in Scotland 14 VC recipients came from the County of Lanarkshire Lake, and in the county town center of Hamilton there are marble blocks with info on each... including William Milne.
A flag pole in his honor once was located at the Canadian Legion at Caron, Saskatchewan.
And back at the very farm where William worked and lived for several years before the war, stands this government plaque erected in his honor.
And this story is not yet over. An Ottawa historian has been working for sometime now trying to locate the actual grave of the 44 soldiers from the Canadian Scottish who were left in the mass grave. He feels it is located I believe somewhere around the point of arrow #5 above.
Keep an eye on this blog site, and the press to see how this story develops. Better yet google the fund raiser now ongoing to help finance the search to locate the 44 graves and donate a few bucks to help with this most worthwhile cause.
till next week,
Bart
And this story is not yet over. An Ottawa historian has been working for sometime now trying to locate the actual grave of the 44 soldiers from the Canadian Scottish who were left in the mass grave. He feels it is located I believe somewhere around the point of arrow #5 above.
Keep an eye on this blog site, and the press to see how this story develops. Better yet google the fund raiser now ongoing to help finance the search to locate the 44 graves and donate a few bucks to help with this most worthwhile cause.
till next week,
Bart
RSS Feed