Someone to Remember by Blair Ferguson
rifles and fixed bayonets while Russian heavy cavalry bore down on them. Regrettably, the part often overlooked was the aftermath (Less than half of the Light Brigade crawled back after their misguided charge). And yet, both battles would see streets named after them and one, even a public school. Many other street names in our city commemorate other battles or carry the names of famous warriors, such as Wellington and Nelson. Such was (and still is) the world of young William Burns and others like him. This story begins as two young friends decide to enlist, believing they will be home by Christmas with a chestful of medals. William and his close friend and fellow Holy Angels’ Cadet, James Connoy, enlisted in the city’s newly formed battalion: The 91st Combat Engineers Force (CEF). Coincidentally, their enlistment numbers would be identical except for the last digit. I won’t go into the young men’s training and instead jump directly to France, where the war was raging. William was transferred to the 75th Battalion, where he ran into Holy Angels Cadet, Captain Frederick Groves and then was sent directly to the front, right into action. They were at The Somme. William’s first taste of combat came when the Canadian Corps was given the task of capturing the heavily defended German position known as the Regina Trench. On October 21, 1916, they attacked and captured the ridge along with 1,000 German prisoners. Unfortunately, the east flank of the trench held firm, and the Germans could not be displaced, so the 75th, along with other units
I often write or speak about men who gave their all, who made the supreme sacrifice in defence of our freedom. These men are often remembered for the Medals of Valour they received posthumously, including Ellis Sifton and his Victoria Cross or Fredrick Groves, who were memorialized by his parents’ purchase of a new Altar Crucifix for Holy Angels. But not all were so fortunate. Sixty-three thousand Canadians lost their lives during the First World War. William Patrick Burns was born March 13, 1893, to Michael and Catharine of 45 Manitoba Street in St. Thomas. Michael was a St. Thomas street car conductor, and the happy family attended Holy Angels Church to fulfill their spiritual needs. Young William was an altar boy, and when old enough, became a member of the Holy Angels’ Cadet Corps. The Cadet Corps members were taught a lot about marching in formation, polishing buttons and boots, and even occasionally firing old rifles. The ‘glory’ of war and high esteem for the military and its accomplishments were always at the forefront in the minds of the people of St. Thomas. Children would have read and remembered Alfred Tennyson’s poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade, which immortalized the charge of an over 600-strong cavalry unit into the face of Russian cannons, or about the stand of ‘the thin red line tipped with steel’ when the Highland Brigade stood firm at Alma with their
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REMEMBRANCE DAY Lest We Forget
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“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.”
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Park Elmdale Memorial Memorial
Page 6 Boomers and Beyond – Elgin • November 2024
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