Private Hubert Snell Corless
775460
Born April 20, 1898 Bolton ON
Killed in Action Oct 30, 1917 Battle of Passchendaele
Buried at Passchendaele British Cemetery
Private William Henry Wood
775584
Born 1899 Bolton ON
Killed in Action July 23, 1917 Fosse 4 Raid at Avion
Buried at Bruay Communal Cemetery
Private Erwin Lorne Childs
775455
Born 1897 Bolton ON
Died 1974, Dearborn Michigan, USA
(3-4 minute read)
Broad smiles and hearty handshakes. And cheerful, excited pats on the back of a mate coupled with a well-timed verbal jab. One by one they arrived at the station. The boys of Bolton; Hubert Corless, Lorne Childs, Eugene Liscombe, Willie Wood, Clarence Bowes, Tommy Smith….and these were just the ones who had already arrived. More than a dozen of the mates from town had signed up to the 126th Peel Battalion. The boys were going off to war.
Each and every one of them looked smart in their khaki best. However, their plump cheeks and hairless visages revealed that while they were dressed like men, they were still only boys. Their lots should have been goofy roughhousing, stammering attempts to talk to girls and typical demonstrations of youthful immaturity. But this was the spring of 1916 and these lads were now Canadian soldiers. They were all pals…pals from the sleepy town of Bolton Ontario and they all joined up to do their bit. With tearful goodbyes and waves of ‘see you soon’ to loves ones lining the station platform, they all turned to each other and shared joyous, youthful gleeful laughter for the remainder of the journey. Those flashes of happy times reflected in their minds for years and years to follow…at least for the ones who remained, that is.
Somewhere in France. Nov 26, 1917…that was how the letter began. Almost two years had passed since they all travelled to the recruiting station in Brampton. They were all barely out of school and yet 7 months later they were walking aboard the Empress of Britain for the journey over there. Shortly after arriving in England, the 126th Peel Battalion, the one they all trained with, a thousand-odd men from the area bounded by Mississauga, Oakville and up through Milton, Brampton, Caledon, Bolton and all the hamlets in between was being broken up. Many of the boys of the 126th joined the 116th Battalion, including the protagonist of the letter Lorne Childs and his close mates Hubert Corless and Willie Wood.
The concept of friends joining up and serving together was quite common. This was the nature of how battalions were raised throughout the Empire. All the lads from local schools, from the town’s factory, plant or mine would all decide to join up and serve together. It was promoted as a way to ensure that friends could spend their war years together, have a few laughs, watch over each other’s backs. It was a perfect way to convince men to join the war effort while keeping morale up. Can one think of a better way to build His Majesty’s forces? Within a few paragraphs of the letter one better understands the weakness in this tactic. The challenge with friends serving together is that, in war friends die. If a particular unit was in the thick of the action, many close friends would be killed. There are many examples where the lads who enlisted from and entire street, team or workplace would be wiped out together. Thankfully, many of the boys that enjoyed that joyous trip to Camp Bordon did return home. However, as evident from his note, a number of them didn’t.
Private William Henry Wood was only 17 years old when he signed up. He was a boy by any definition of the word. The boy was handsome gent with a friendly countenance. However, aren’t we all that in our teenaged years. He was killed in the first real action of the 116th. This was a raid at Fosse 4, a slag heap that was protected by a series of German trenches. They, it would come to appear, be protecting a few piles of bricks…as noted by the Adjutant in his history of the event. Willy was the first of Lorne’s friends to be killed. The second was Hubey Corless. Hubey, like his school-mate Wille was also now 19 years of age. He was killed at Passchendale. The cold, wet, putrid spot of sludge, significant for nothing, pummeled into nothing, consuming all.
Whether it be the positive nature of the lad, the fear of the censors or both, yet his letter where he just spoke about two friends dying in combat…one just over three weeks prior concludes with the jingoistic message “The Germans seem strong yet, but Johnny Bull and Jack Canuck at his side and the hundred thousand of the R. (Robert) L. Borden Battalion which the Union Government will send, will make Emperor Wille sit up.” He was referring to the draft, just approved in Canadian Parliament and the resulting massive influx of men who would soon join him and his mates over in France. Today, we would expect a letter home that dripped with emotion, reflecting loss and sorrow. Be it the time, the conservative nature of the writer or that of the censor, his note reflected that the Canadians needed every bit of help they could get to muster a win, but more importantly, to survive.
Lorne, Clarence, Eugene and many of the lads who shared that laugh-filled departure would return home. They would gather on occasion. There would be more rounds of handshakes and hugs. Laugh filled stories about their time together would abound…but it would never be the same. Then again, really…how could it?