Private Issac Beauchamp

Private Isaac Beauchamp

644654 (originally with the 157th Simcoe Foresters)

Born Penetanguishine Ontario

Killed in Action – Aug 30, 1917 Hill 70

Another rush of cold air aided in hustling the men into the line. Still, despite being bundled in their heavy winter weather gear the warm smiles shared amongst them were the key to easing the sharp chill in the air. It took dedicated and patriotic men to brave a cold February weather and trek into town and enlist with the 157th. Especially when the raising was taking place on the town situated at the edge of Georgian Bay, Penetanguishene. It was the winter of 1916 where from their offices in Collingwood, Orillia, Barrie, Midland, Coldwater, New Lowell and here in Penetanguishene, the 157th Simcoe Foresters signed up men to join the cause and enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces.

The day was February 10, 1916. 38 men put pen to paper and joined the ranks of the 157th. As they shuffled their way through the office, each man filled out the requisite forms which were then was authorized by local Lieutenant John Hogg and the Lieutenant Colonel of the newly formed unit, Lt. Col David Henry MacLaren. The battalion MO then conducted checks on all the men, measuring their height, chest size, and recording down their particulars. The collection of recruits included a number of recognizable faces. Frank Anderson, Frank Cadieux, the Piette brothers, Ralph McColl and Ernest Sweet. Then there were Napoleon and Joseph Picotte. And the other Napoleon, Dault. The there was Isaac. Isaac Beauchamp.

At 21 years of age, Isaac joined up with his mates to ensure he did not miss the big show. They all did. All the guys wanted to ensure that they would join in on the fun. Thus, he followed his friends (new and old) to Camp Borden to train. The men completed their basic training in the Spring and Summer of 1916 before setting off to England in the Fall. They arrived in England on Oct 28th and to their collective disappointment, the battalion was broken up and distributed to other battalions for service in France. Thankfully a significant allotment of the men was sent to one battalion being readied for war in Flanders. It was the 116th Battalion. Isaac Beauchamp was now an Umpty-Ump.

I will jump forward to the circumstances of his death…all of which are scarce and limited. No individual picture exists of the man…at least not one of his face. He is one of the soldiers pictured in a group photograph of the 157th Simcoe Foresters…maybe? While he is buried at the Aix-Noulette Communal Cemetery near Lens, online pictures of his gravestone have yet to be posted. Even the circumstances of his death are vague. The official record merely shows that he was KILLED IN ACTION. The Battalion Diary states “Working parties were supplied for trench digging, etc. in the forward area. Casualties, 2 other ranks killed, 6 other ranks wounded. “ This provides little material to help gain a better insight into the man who gave it his all. Yet a little digging into accounts of the battalion’s history at Hill 70 can provide more colour to his sacrifice.

Between August 18th to the 25th 1917, the CEF embarked on the second largest attack in Canadian history. The attack at Hill 70 was only surpassed in size and scope by the one held at Vimy Ridge. 9,198 Canadian soldiers were killed, wounded or declared missing in the battle of Hill 70. The 116th joined the fray on August 22nd. On the 21st the planned Canadian attack was pre-empted by something totally unexpected. While the men waited in their trenches for the sound of the whistle, the Germans were prepared…more than prepared. They were going to attack the Canucks first! Before the planned jump-off time of 4:38am, the Germans sprung out of their trenches and rushed the Canadians in their trenches first. With the glint of their bayonets occasionally reflecting the light from a towering flare, they sprinted forward upon the unexpecting men. The 27th and 29th Battalions were forced to engage in hand to hand combat from the initiation of combat and the battle which proceeded throughout the day. In their sector, the day’s tally amounted to 7 officers and 58 OR killed with the 29th Battalion along with another 50 men missing and 183 men wounded. Beside them in the 27th Battalion saw 35 men killed, 14 missing and a colossal 248 men wounded. It was a bloodbath.

This horrendous death toll to necessitate calling the still green 116th to relieve the spent 27th on the 22nd of August. Over the next week, 22 additional men from the 116th would fall trying to retain the hard-won positions in the forward trenches. Yet, to be accurate, they were not really trenches. The 27th followed by the 116th were tasked with holding a part of the battlefield which would be more resemble Berlin in WW2 than Vimy or the Somme. They were responsible for the area on the edge of the key city of Lens. Instead of trenches carved out of farm fields they face a demolished, ruined city with piles of bricks and destroyed sections of buildings serving as protection for the men. It was here that the Canadians were tasked with holding onto territory just gained from the Germans. While the Germans moved back on the 25th, they continued to bombard the area now held by the 116th. It was on the final day of their stint at the front, the 31st of August, where somewhere, out there, at a time that was never documented, Isaac Beauchamp’s war would come to an end. Let us remember him.

Lest we forget.

Private John Alexander McMillan

Private John Alexander McMillan

745428

Born 1896 Beaverton, ON

Lived in Beaverton, ON

Killed in Action – Aug 24, 1917 Hill 70

Buried at Aix-Noulette Communal Cemetery, France

Situated on the eastern shores of Lake Simcoe, lies a jewel of a town.  In my youth, I used to travel there with my parents as it had one of the only grocery stores that was relatively close to my family cottage.  It also had a laundromat.  This was essential as it allowed up to make it through our two-week vacation without having to continue to wear clothing stained with mustard, ketchup and other hot dog accoutrements or smeared with the obligatory detritus of worm guts.  The town is Beaverton, Ontario.  Today, a little less than 3000 people live in and around the town.  Like many small towns in cottage country the population often surges in the summer and is reduced to virtually nothing in the winter. At the time of the war, the town would have included approximately 1000 people, 3 churches and 7 Officers serving in the 116th Battalion.  (my apologies, I forgot the Old Stone Church which was constructed in 1840 from a pile of old stones.) 

As much as the fact that a small town could boast about having 7 officers serving in one battalion, there are darker numbers from the town that should be considered.  One number is 38.  This is the number of men from Beaverton and Thorold Township who put down their tools, enlisted, travelled over seas, fought and died in the service of their country, community and King.   Their names are forever listed on the town cenotaph located outside the town hall.  12 of these 38 soldiers were original enlistees with the 116th Battalion.  They were included in the group of 79 local area chaps who attended the recruiting office in Beaverton in March of 1916 and enlisted to fight.  One of these men was a 19 yr old man named John Alexander McMillan. 

John was a local boy.  Born in Beaverton, he was the son of Duncan McMillan, the town carriage maker.  One can imagine that, as the younger boy of the modern-day equivalent of their town car mechanic, he knew and was known by all those in town.  He was an average young gent, listing his height at 5 ft 7 with brown hair and brown eyes.  Upon joining the battalion, he first enjoyed the fine hospitality of the regimental health care services as he fell ill to measles at Camp Niagara.  Immediately upon release, he jumped aboard the train enroute to Halifax and joined the men as they departed for England aboard the SS Olympic.  Once in England he spent the next nine months training with the men, however was delayed in departing for France with the rest of the 116th.  He joined them five days before the great attack on Vimy Ridge. 

John, along with most of the battalion, survived Vimy unscathed.  However, within the following month he did come down with a nasty case of impetigo.  For those without Goggle or tend to avoid looking up disgusting things on the interest, let me describe the condition for you.  Picture a healthy young lad…fit, fresh faced, healthy as a horse…now look at the guy beside him with yellow, crusty scabby sores on his face, hands and legs.  You would be looking at poor John Alexander.  This was a highly contagious condition which was quite common in the close quarters and confines of the trenches and underground bunkers.  One may, as I do quite often, is look at this situation from a glass half-full perspective.  At least the for the now 20 yr old boy, not even the madames who plied their ancient trade in the maisons tolerees would touch the youngster, thus saving him from a vicious bout with VD too.

After Vimy, the 116th proceeded to patrol the now quiet sector of the front from May to early July.  McMillan was recovering in hospital, during this rather dull period of the Battalion’s history and returned to the men in mid June.  The first test of battle John would experience was going over the bags at Avion in the attack on the German trench systems at the Fosse 4 slag heap.  Emerging unscathed once again, his luck would run out a month later as the 116th was tasked to assume the Chicory Trench network vacated by the 27th Canadian Battalion on Aug 22nd.  This period would be known in Canada’s Great War history as the attack on Hill 70 at Lens. 

On what the battalion diary described as a rather quiet day with the German’s laying off their incessant shell fire exercises, they eventually got bored of not shelling and resumed their pillory of the Canadian positions around dinner time, between 6:30 and 7:30 pm, followed by a second rather hostile bout of shelling between 10:00 and 11:00pm.    It was during this time that the random reality of great war artillery exacted its’ rather inexact science.  During that sorrowful evening, John Alexander McMillan was struck and killed.  Without fanfare nor recognition, the battalion diary simply noted “Casualties 7 other ranks “Killed”.

Lest we forget

Private Richard Colvin Howson

Sergeant Richard Colvin Howson

776085

Born Teeswater, ON 1890

Lived in Toronto, ON

Killed in Action – August 27, 1917 - Hill 70

Sergeant Howson was a tall, fit former member of the 36th Peel Regiment before he enlisted with the regional 126th Peel OS Battalion (aka Lorne Scots of Dufferin, Peel and Halton Regiment) in the summer of 1916. Richard was born in a blink of a town called Teeswater situated in Western Ontario. It was here where his father owned the town’s flour mill. The family moved to the nearby town of Wingham later in his youth (not as small, maybe two blinks?) From their comparatively sleepy rural surroundings, Richard and his younger brother George moved to Toronto to seek their success.

As close as brothers are, the pair both signed up with the 126th, George first, followed by Richard. At time of his enlistment, Richard was building a very promising career in business. His first key position was at the Commerce Bank of Canada (now Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) followed up by assuming a branch manager for Commercial Press (a publishing company) in Montreal. While he secured a commission as Lieutenant in Canada, he reverted to Sergeant once the battalion arrived in England. George served as a Corporal in the 126th and proceeded to serve as an officer in the 116th as well.

The men of the 126th Peel Battalion were absorbed into the 116th in October 1916. The combined battalion proceeded to France on Feb 11th, 1917. Howson’s record demonstrates that he led his squad into the field on the 22nd of August. This was one week into the diversionary exercise against the German divisions holding the ground around Lens in an area now known as Hill 70. It was on their first day in relief of the 27th Battalion when Sergeant Richard Howson was hit by enemy artillery. Him and two other privates, Oliver Arnold and Howard Kemp were killed in action.

Lest we forget.