Private William Puddicomb
Born in Chemsford, ON June 4, 1896
Lived in Midland, ON
Killed in Action Oct 24, 19178 in the Battle of Passchendale
Buried at Oxford Road Cemetery in Wietje, Ypres, Belgium
With the men of the 116th having spent their third day at the front at Vimy and seeing the massive amount of preparation taking place, it would certainly shake the nerves of a man, even if he was a soldier. Probably incited by the rumours of a fellow battalion-mate looking for an easy exit from the impending battle, another young man took it upon himself to ‘accidentally’ shoot himself. On March 14th, 1917 Private William John Puddicomb placed the muzzle of his rifle to his foot and tried to blow his toe off.
Williams’ desperate attempt to save himself did not resonate well with his senior officers. Following a 28 day penalty for Private Smith trying to blow off a few digits on the 12th, two days earlier, the officers needed to stem this apparent tactic quickly before other men tried to injure themselves as well. Thus, as recorded within his service files Pte. Puddicomb after being “In confinement awaiting trial 15-3-1917” he was “Tried and convicted by F G C M, 23-3-1917 for whilst on active service “conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline negligently wounding himself in the left hand (was foot) and sentenced to 58 days Field Punishment”
While William did his best to exchange a toe for a boat ride home to his unfortunate circumstance, the injury healed itself and he was sent back to the mud. This continued to be a dire situation for the young man. After participating in the raid at the coal mine at Fosse near Avion and the diversionary attack on Hill 70, the stress and burden of the war was breaking him down. On September 10th he was permitted to go to the infirmary and was hospitalized for Trench Fever/Shell Shock. The military gifted him a total of 10 days out of the line before they declared him cured and sent him back into the meat grinder of the Western Front. The 116th next destination was Passchendale.
The battalion was on their first day fighting in the seminal battle when Private William John Puddicomb fell. The battalion diary barely gave his loss any notice recognizing it with the fewest of words “1 O.R. killed”. For a man who must have been living in desperation, uncertainty and fear since the battalion arrived in France he was ultimately freed of his burden in the mud and rain of Passchendale.
Lest we forget.