Ernest Albert Bowerbank
757268
Born Oakville Ontario 1885
Killed in Action – Boiry Notre-Dame Aug 28, 1918
Jack Telfer Bowerbank
757263
Born Oakville Ontario 1894
Killed in Action – Fosse raid at Avion – July 23, 1917
The pain is always delayed. When the guns fell silent on the 11th of November 1918 it took until the spring of 1919 before the boys made their way back home. Apart from the continuous transit of men and material from Canada to England and France, it took some time to get hundreds of thousands of soldiers onto the ocean passenger liners and safely back home. Thus, by the second Sunday in May in the year 1919, familiar faces only then started to reappear on the city streets of hometowns across the country. For those boys, despite the hardships, deep wounds, whether they be physical or psychological, they did their best to set them aside and just enjoy being in the loving comfort in the arms of their families…especially their moms.
When a son decides to enlist and follow his sense of duty by fighting for their country, the one person they most feared telling was their mother. Dad’s being men, often understand the overwhelming pressure and expectation that others put on them to enlist. They were young men once too. The mythical glory of war…the sound, the fury, the excitement…that was all shared by the dad as it was by the son. However, mothers are different. They see their son’s in the perspective of the little tot they nursed from a wee babe. They are the ones who held him close when he was scared, soothed him when he was crying and was usually the last one to tuck him into bed at night. Thus, when the topic was broached at the dinner table, her mind did not rush to glory.
On the morning of May 11th, 1919 many, many mothers looked upon it as the greatest day they could ever imagine. Their son had returned home. To thousands of others, Mother’s day was the worst day. On this day when as the early morning sun brightened the hallways of homes, they also illuminated the doors that lead to an empty bedroom. The rooms that remained it the exact same condition as it was when he left it years prior. Two years without one item moving. Clothes, still pressed, and placed inside the dresser awaiting the return of its’ owner. The bedsheets and covers remain undisturbed. A dog-eared copy of a comic sitting on the bedside table, its’ only movement being straightened and straightened again as she visited his room so many times almost as a ritual of remembrance.
This was the scene that Lydia Bowerbank woke to on the morning of Mother’s Day. She was not without comfort as her remaining children were there to cheer her up. Fresh flowers, a morning where she did not have to cook and clean for the household. But it was not the same. The dinner table at her household did not only have one empty chair. It had two. Ernest was her eldest son. At 34 year of age, he enlisted a month after his younger brother. It was almost as if he did so as a promise to his mother that he would look over the young lad. The other empty chair belonged to Jack. 23 year old Jack.
Both boys were born and grew up in Oakville Ontario. Their father Thomas was also born and bred Oakville native. Ernest made his living working as a brass spinner, with Jack working as a basket maker. The family had moved to 60 Oak Avenue in Hamilton, probably due to the greater opportunities that the industrial city provided to men looking for employment. In the late fall of 1915, both Bowerbank boys signed up with the 120th City of Hamilton Battalion. They were affiliated with the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. As was the case with the other battalions being raised at the time, following basic training they shipped off to England in the summer of 1916.
The history of both boys followed their training together with the 120th and their shared transfer to the 116th Battalion. The first telegram that Lydia received notifying her of the death of her son was following the trench raid in Avion, France on July 23rd, 1917 referred to the Fosse 4 raid. Young Jack was one of 37 men of the 116th to die on that dreadful day. She received the second telegram one month into the 100 Day Offensive. 34 year old Ernest was killed on August 28th, in the attack on Boiry-Notre-dame just east of Arras. 79 men from the 116th fell on that successful, but costly operation. The bodies of neither men were ever recovered and their names are both engraved in marble at the memorial at Vimy Ridge.
As we thank our mothers for the sacrifices they have made for us. For their selfless demonstrations of love and care. For the scrapes that she has wiped clean and the knees she has bandaged. We think back to the mothers who did not have a son to hug on May 11th, 1919. We think of Lydia and all the other Lydia’s who had both an empty bedroom to ponder. He look across the table in thanks that the seats are today occupied, knowing that others remained vacant in 1919. We think of the feeling of loss shared by the mothers and ,in turn, remember both Ernest and Jack Bowerbank and we thank them for their service and honour them for their sacrifice.
Lest we forget....and Happy Mother's Day