Lance Corporal D’Arcey Jardine Reynolds
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Born 1890 at Orr Lake, Simcoe ON
Killed in Action on Aug 28, 1918 Boiry, Notre-Dame
One wonders about the nature of his life before he elected to travel that short distance to wind up in the town of Midland. Life was simpler back then. Safer. A time when finding a locked door would be quite rare. To the contrary, people looked out for each other. Rural communities, especially, acted together to help police themselves. Everyone was their brother’s (or sisters’) keeper. Yet, as it tended to happen then as it does today, if a ruffian happened to get into the sauce and started to upend the odd table in the local public house there was still a need for someone to enforce the peace. And thus, in 1916, the person they would call was the now Midland-native, 5 ft 10 ¾ in, 200 lbs barrel-chested Police Officer D’Arcey Jardine Reynolds.
His size and character would have been known and noted within town. He would have been the one the town looked up to (so to speak) and respected. He would also be one person they would expect to feel a sorry presumed loss when word was out that a battalion was being raised in the region. At this time, the 157th Foresters was being raised out of Midland, Ontario and on the 15th of February, 26 yr old D’Arcey Reynolds would put pen to paper and sign up.
Once part of the Simcoe Foresters, they would take advantage of his policing background and have him act as an MP on Base Borden. Not long later he departed with the men in October of that year and arrived in England on the 28th. Like a number of Foresters, he was transferred to the 116th in early December and travelled to France with the battalion on the 11th of February. The adage ‘once a cop, always a cop’ proved true, once again, as he was sent to a course on Divisional Police services two months since joining the team in France. From the significant number of infractions amongst his soldier brethren, like the occasional instance of a OR being AWOL, the ubiquitous ‘drunk on duty’ citation or disobeying the commands of a senior officer. There was definitely a need for more police officers in the army. However, instead of acting as an MP they do show that he accepted the role as a Lance Corporal with the 116th in November of 1917.
The role of a Lance Corporal was the equivalent of a team leader. His role was to lead a squad of 8 men and successfully achieve the tasks assigned to them in the field. While he typically spent his time working and living alongside his brethren, namely ordinary private soldiers, when the unit was asked to perform certain tasks his job was to lead them in achieving the tasks. After being promoted to Lance Corporal after Passchendaele, D’Arcey would have spent the winter and spring training with the men readying themselves to act as the tip of the spear.
The 116ths, as a part of the 9th Regiment and alongside the other battalions of the 3rd Canadian Division was moved to an area east of Arras following the successful operations at Amiens. On August 27th, 1918 they were assigned to take the town of Boiry-Notre-Dame. This was town was situated approximately 14kms to the East of Arras. Following a massive barrage that kicked off at 4:55am on the 27th, the men spent the majority of the day shuffling from shell hole to shell hole in a long approach to take out the German units protecting the town. As the war has transitioned to one of trench warfare to one of movement, the men would rely upon the shell holes created by the massive bombardments for well-needed protection. This was needed as the Germans were well dug in and blanketed all approaches with a withering array of machine gun fire.
Step by step, hole by hole, the men drew closer and closer. After resting on the evening of the 27th the men made every attempt to remove the wounded from the field. However, they moved on and positioned themselves for the final blow. At 11am on morning on the 28th the Canadians’ unleased another devastating artillery barrage on the German positions. This allowed the men to move within sight of the town and the distinctive church steeple that had yet to be ‘removed’. It was in the final moment of the attack, when the men were just about to take the last defensive positions of the Germans’ protecting the town when it happened. Lance Corporal Reynolds had just led his team in overtaking the final objective when an artillery shell burst above him. Like that, the policeman from Barrie, the 27 yr old young man was made another casualty of the war. He, along with 41 other men from the 116th and 5,800 men from the CEF would fall in the attempt to clear the region and take the town.
Lest we forget.