Private William John Cousins
775467
Born 1880, Brampton, ON
Killed in Action at Le Quesnel on Aug 12, 1918
Commemorated on Vimy Ridge Memorial
On a day as fine as St. Patrick’s Day one must scout the databases to identify a man to recognize for his courage, his adventure, his repeated stumbling into misfortune and for his love of the aqua vitae.
When looking to recruit the bravest men to lead a battalion, one should scour the city, towns and neighbourhoods looking for the right type of man. Young, tall, broad and blonde…the perfect attributes for a soldier. Then there was William John Cousins…older at 35 years old, shortish at 5’4, blonde and to top it off, there is no better training for war than to enlist…an unmarried florist from Brampton. Yet, that was exactly what William John Cousins was.
He joined up with the 126th Peel Battalion in January of 1916. The battalion signed him right up and sent him overseas later that summer. After being transferred to the 116th in October, his next adventure was perfectly timed for April 1st, 1917. It was on this date when on battalion parade at Houdain whilst the men were practicing an attack with live grenades, poor Pte. Cousins was injured. He received wounds to his left shoulder and left buttock. Not the best way to spend April Fools Day.
Cousins rejoined the unit a month later. He may have made it through the attack in Vimy Ridge, but couldn’t make it through a parade with his battalion. He then survived the raid at Fosse 4 at Avion followed by the attack on Hill 70, but was unable to make it unscathed after fiddling with his grenade rifle. On August 26th, while removing a grenade from a rifle, the said grenade exploded exploding his left hand. While suspicious in nature, he was found not negligent in a Court of Inquiry for trying to purposely injure himself.
How does one medicate themselves and heal from all these unfortunate injuries? From a keen view of his service record, it appears that he was found drunk by his senior officers three times in 1916 up until his deployment. He picked up his penchant for the beverage when he returned to the battalion. The first time he got caught, he was given 7 days Field Punishment. Three weeks later he accepted his licks with another 14 days Field Punishment. To reward him for his wounds and his fine skills at locating the bottom of a bottle he was granted 14 days leave to the U.K. Upon return, he went for the trifecta and after being found drunk on duty the third time in a few months, he was rewarded with 28 days Field Punishment.
A sympathetic mind can acknowledge that Private Cousins was actually seriously wounded. His body and mind were slowly being killed by the war. And at every chance, the poor soul sought refuge. Unfortunately, alcohol would provide him with only temporary solace. Yet, he managed to at least avoid getting caught for the next 6 months. I guess that was a positive. However, it was on the 12th of August, 4 days after the start of the Big Push when Private William John Cousins was instantly killed by a sniper bullet during the company’s withdrawal from Middle Wood at Le Quesnel. A sudden and unfortunate end for a man suffering from the unseen pressures of war.
Lest we forget.