Corporal Earlby Gordon Shannon
868015
Born 1896 Islington, ON
Killed in Action, Aug 8th, 1918 at Amiens
At the tender age of 20, for Earlby Shannon it appeared that all the cards were falling in place for him. He recently graduated from Humberside Collegiate (located just north of High Park in central Etobicoke/Toronto) Humberside Collegiate. Right out of high school he landed a job as a banker at the Union Bank (now RBC). To top it off he was in the service of his country with the 12th York Rangers. A bright future awaited the young lad. Then...as the war reached out and touched every town and village in Canada, it reached out and touched young Earlby. On Feb 25th, 1916 he travelled out to Whitby to put his name to paper and enlist in Lt. Col Cockburn’s newly formed 182nd Battalion.
While he did enlist as a Private when he joined the 182nd, his sights were set on a leadership position in the Canadian military. This was represented by him passing the qualification exam to earn his stripes as a Lieutenant (Oct 28th, 1916). However, possibly due to glut of officers, it can be surmised that Earlby elected to forgo seeking out the commission. He did, however, get promoted to Acting Sergeant directly before the men departed for England. Upon arrival in England, Sergeant Shannon was transferred between the 3rd Reserve Battalion and then the 208th Irish Canadians. Once again, he reverted to his permanent grade of Private. Earlby was then moved to the 116th in February of 1918 as a draft of new men were integrated into the 116th already training in France.
As the Battalion readied itself for the impending Big Push planned for later that summer, Shannon was promoted to Corporal. As evidence of the evolution in military warfare and battlefield tactics, his new role would be to lead a diversified group of specialists in the impending attacks. The next major attack would be at Amiens where his leadership skills and ultimately his life would be put to the test.
On the morning of August 8th, 1916, the 116th emerged from their protective positions in the trenches and behind a massive artillery bombardment executed the transition to open warfare. The 116th’s orders were to proceed on a front of about 1000 yards starting around the Village of Hourges and take as much as they can get….5000 yards of territory was expected, but nothing was stopping them from taking more if they could. It was early in to his thrust, just south of the town of Demuin and east of Hourges when the young stalwart Corporal was wounded by German shellfire. He would succumb to his wounds later that day and his remains were buried at Hourges Orchard Cemetery alongside 134 of his countrymen who also fell that day.
Lest we forget