Lieutenant Russell Wright Soper
Born, Whitby ON 1889
Formerly served with 27th Lambton Regiment from Sarnia
Enlisted with 116th Battalion
Killed in Action – April 2, 1918, Vimy Sector
Dear sis…
The heartbreaking letter had to be written. It was a brother writing to his sister informing her the saddest news that her husband had been killed in action. The letter may be lost to time, passed from Alma to her son, Ernest and from him onto a child, cousin, dusty archive somewhere? It may have spent the past 100 years being shuffled between stacks of family papers, lost, forgotten, found, passed along then forgotten again. One never knows the current whereabouts or even if it even exists to this day. However, what is certain is that the letter was written and it changed the life of so many.
The brother-in-law knew it happened as he was there when it happened. The battalion diary entry praised the efforts of the teams who participated. The nature of his death was not mentioned. The only thing noted is that the success of the evening’s raid was marred by the loss of two officers, Lieutenant John Alexander Gibson and Whitby/Sarnia native Lieutenant Russell Wright Soper. Their casualties were described with the simple words…Killed in Action. However, more complete understanding of the circumstances surrounding their loss was provided courtesy of the family history.
This is the story of Lieutenant Russell Wright Soper. Soper was born in Whitby, ON in 1889 and grew up and gained his education in the Port Perry area. Following his graduation from high school, he took stab at teaching for a couple years but decided to proceed with higher education. In 1909, Soper was accepted into the University of Toronto and studied Architecture. It was during this time where, as he self-described in the university yearbook that a career in Architecture was definitely “…the thing that I was born to do”.
Following his graduation, Soper moved to Sarnia, a city situated at the confluence of Lake Huron and the St. Clair River and set up an architecture design business in the city centre. Sarnia is a border city of approximately 10,000 (at the time) and was experiencing a significant amount of growth. This was a perfect time for a professional architect, like Soper, to set up shop and help to design the myriad of industrial buildings that were being built in the area. In time, Sarnia would grow to become a hub of industry and manufacturing with several oil refineries locating in the area. (recall the back of the old $10 bill). While Soper looked to expand his business and the war raging overseas he joined the regional militia, the 27th Lambton Regiment aka The St. Clair Borderers.
Akin to the leadership he showed in business, Soper quickly raised in the ranks of the 27th Regiment and earned his commission as a Lieutenant followed up by a Captain in the Spring of 1916. As a Captain in the 27th, he would have served under both Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Robert George Campbell Kelly and Lieutenant Colonel Lt Colonel William Wallae McVicar. Both men were the commanding officers of the 149th Battalion, a Battalion raised in Sarnia and consisted of local Lambton County boys. These men would have lobbied Soper to join them and help to lead the 149th Battalion as they readied themselves to join the war effort. However, despite rising to command a Company of the 27th, Soper elected to travel to Camp Niagara and sign up with the 116th Ontario County Battalion.
The reasons behind his decision to join the 116th are not entirely clear, however one would not be far off if he guessed that it had something to do with his marriage to Uxbridge native Alma Nutting. The pair got married on May 24th, 1916 in Uxbridge. Alma’s brother Earnest Hartley Nutting was already a solider in the battalion and had enlisted a few months earlier in February. With the battalion departing from Canada to England in July, one additional part of the story would remain to be written as the boys waved goodbye as the battalion left town one final time. Unbeknownst to her, but as she bid adieu to her just-married husband, Alma would carry Russell’s first and only son.
The night when it happened. April 1st, 1918. One week earlier…the big offensive happened.
On March 21st, over 1 million shells rained down upon the British sector of the front, from Vimy south to La Fere, just over 100 kms of front line was bombarded by the Germans. The Germans had bolstered their ranks with the addition of over 1 million men who were formerly serving on the Eastern Front in Russia. With the weight of fresh troops, the German Army quickly overran the British divisions holding the line. On the first day along, 7500 British soldiers were killed in Operation Michael. The 116th was moved into position on the furthest north flank to the German action. And it was on the 1st of April where Lieutenant Colonel George Pearkes, commanding officer of the 116th was asked to conduct a raid on the German position opposite and seek to find out who the soldiers were and what unit they were serving with. Understanding whom was opposite in a battle was essential as their quality and composition would signal to the general staff if and when further attacks may be planned. It was the job of the 116th to seek out that information.
At 10 pm on the evening of the 1st of April, 4 separate groups set out under the cover of darkness and in strict requirements to maintain silence for all those involved. The objective was to sneak over across no man’s land, locate and snatch a few unsuspecting Germans, and hustle them back to the allied trenches. The battalion diary records that the raid was successful with two men captured, killing 5 Germans in the process. Missing from the story was why the battalion lost two of the men leading the men over the top. How did they die? Why were they lost when so many others made it back to the lines safely?
The story has only snippets of details revealing hints as to how and why they died. Apparently, when their fellow raiders successfully nabbed a couple Germans they shot flared into the heavens to signal the men to return to the Canadian front line trenches. However, Soper and Gibson would have known that the German units opposite to them would have responded to the gunfire that took place during the raid. With the enemy quickly approaching, Soper’s men, including brother-in-law Private Earnest Nutting, tried to block the approaching Germans from trying to recover their lost men by filling up the Communication trench. With the men shovelling away with a fury, the two Lieutenant’s leading the patrol, Soper and Gibson, would have been at the front, revolvers at the ready and blasting away at the approaching shadows. On that evening, only two men did not return to the Canadian lines… Lieutenant John Alexander Gibson and Lieutenant Russell Wright Soper. As so many of the stories of the dead are lost on the field of battle, the exact circumstances pertaining to their deaths will never be proved. The best we can do is remember and pass along the message that was once etched by Nutting in his letter to his sister…that Soper died bravely trying to do his duty.
Remember him.