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FOR VALOUR COLONEL GRAHAM THOMSON LYALL, VC Lieutenant Colonel William A. Smy, OMM, CD, UE with Alexander F. D. Ferguson Copyright © 2009 William Arthur Smy All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written permission is an infringement of the copyright law. Canadian Cataloguing Publication Data ISBN 978-0-9692232-1-4 Main Entry under Title: For Valour: Colonel Graham Thomson Lyall, VC One Volume Smy, William A., 1938 – For Valour: Colonel Graham Thomson Lyall, VC 1. World War I, 1914-1919. 2. Victoria Cross. 3. Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919. 4. British Army, North Africa, 1940-1942. I. Ferguson, Alexander F. D., 1928- II. Title CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgments A Note on Nomenclature and Usage and Abbreviations Early Life Canada The 19th “Lincoln” Regiment, 1914-1915 81st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1915-1916 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF, 1916-1917 The Somme, 1916 Arras, 1916 102nd Canadian Infantry Battalion, CEF, 1917-1919 Ypres, 1917 Arras, 1918 The Hindenburg Line and Bourlon Wood, 1918 Blécourt, 1 October 1918 The Victoria Cross The Canadian Reaction Scotland Demobilization, Investiture and Marriage The 1920 Garden Party at Buckingham Palace Scotland Again The 1929 Victoria Cross Dinner Domestic Life 1929-1939 The Vimy Pilgrimage, 1936 World War II, 1939-1941 North Africa Scotland Memorials Appendix 1 – Family Structure Appendix 2 – Chronology Appendix 3 – Victoria Cross Appendix 4 – Lyall’s Medals Appendix 5 – Badges Which Lyall Wore During His Military Service, 1914-1941 Appendix 6 – Bourlon Memorial Appendix 7 – Marriage Appexndix 8 – Lyall’s Letter Describing the 1929 Victoria Cross Dinner Appendix 9 – Order of Battle for the Canadian Corps, 1916-1918 Appendix 10 – 102nd Battalion Operations Orders – Bourlon Wood Selected Bibliography Endnotes i PREFACE This study is an attempt to document the life of Graham Thomson Lyall, in particular his deeds in combat that resulted in the award of Victoria Cross. My interest in Lyall stems from the fact that in 1914 he joined the 19th “Lincoln” Regiment, a predecessor of The Lincoln and Welland Regiment, the militia regiment I joined as a Private soldier in 1957 and eventually commanded 1979-1983. Every recruit training course in the Canadian Militia contains lectures on Regimental history, and I recall that some fifty two years ago my Platoon Commander taking his platoon into the Officers’ Mess of the Regiment to view memorabilia collected over its long history. As he went from one wall to another discussing the history of various weapons, colours, flags, photographs and Regimental silver, he made a passing comment that a member of the Regiment had been awarded the Victoria Cross during World War I. But I do not recall him mentioning a name. At the time that “tidbit” of information meant little to me and was quickly pushed into my subconscious. Years went by, and when I did become curious, I believed the man he had mentioned had been Lance Corporal Fred Fisher, VC, a St Catharines native who had been killed in action at St. Julien in April 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres. But my research quickly put that assumption to rest. Although Fisher had been born in St Catharines, his family had moved away when he was quite young. His only militia service had been in 1914 when he had joined the Black Watch in Montreal at the outbreak of the war. He went overseas with the 13th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, and was serving in that unit when he was killed in action. So who was this mysterious man who had served in the old 19th and had won the Victoria Cross? None of the secondary sources contained sufficient information to identify him. The Regiment perpetuates three CEF battalions but there was no record of any member of those battalions being awarded the Victoria Cross. Additionally there were records that over 2,500 men of the old militia regiments that predated my Regiment had enlisted directly into the CEF at the beginning of the war so it was almost an impossible task to come up with his name. Then, in 1995, by sheer accident, while doing some research on the Welland Canal Force, I stumbled on an article in a December 1918 issue of the Niagara Falls Review that announced that Graham Thomson Lyall who had been a “local man” had been awarded the Victoria Cross. My search took on a new life. When I started work on the manuscript, I thought it would be a relatively easy task since there just had to be a great wealth of information about a VC winner. How naïve I was. But the story has slowly come together over the last ten years. ii Lyall belonged to six military units: the 19th “Lincoln” Regiment, a militia unit in St Catharines, Ontario; the 81st Battalion, CEF, which he joined in St Catharines; the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF, and subsequently the 102nd Battalion (Central Ontario Regiment), CEF; the Royal Engineers which he joined on returning to the United Kingdom after World War I, and the Royal Army Ordnance Corps at the outbreak of World War II. In the past, his name has been associated with The North British Columbia Regiment, the post- war militia regiment that perpetuated the 102nd Battalion. Lyall, though, emphatically stated he really belonged to the 19th Regiment and in turn the 81st Battalion. The background discussions on the Canadian Corps and its various battles in the First World War and the British Army in North Africa in the Second World War are necessary in order to follow Lyall’s military career, but certainly are not definitive studies of the campaigns or battles themselves. To do so would entail writing a history of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the early period of the British Army in North Africa. I take sole responsibility for any error of fact or confusing presentation of the events. William Arthur Smy Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Commanding The Lincoln and Welland Regiment, 1979-1983 Fort Erie, Ontario 2009 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This biographical study would have not been possible without the assistance of Sandy Ferguson, Graham Lyall’s nephew. After some six or seven years of research, I had little beyond Lyall’s Canadian Army records, war diaries, some newspaper articles and a number of secondary sources (many of which contained errors). I had failed to locate any family member, or any material dealing with Lyall’s post World War 1 activities. Then out of the blue, I was informed that Lyall’s medals had been placed on long-term loan with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers’ Museum in Arborsfield, England. The Museum placed me in contact with the donor, Mr. Alexander F. D. Ferguson (Sandy Ferguson), and the project took on a new life. I found that Sandy, the only nephew of Lyall, was also working on a study of Lyall, and we quickly recognized that although we wanted to tell the same story, we were approaching it from different perspectives and our end results would have different target audiences. I wished to approach the study from a military perspective, concentrating on his Canadian experience, while Sandy wanted to appeal to the family. We agreed to share our research, and thus our biographical studies have a number of identical narratives. I believe that the two studies complement, rather than diminish the story. Sandy Ferguson was born and brought up in his grandfather’s house, next door to his uncle. As a young teenager during the Second Word War he served as a messenger in the Home Guard and eventually was commissioned in the Territorial Army, retiring in 1958 with the rank of Captain. In civilian life he worked in support of the British nuclear deterrent program, conducting research into explosives and propellants. He later worked in the paper industry and for a while was employed by the Polaroid Corporation in the United States. He retired as Chief Executive Officer of a wallpaper company. Sandy has provided virtually all the information relating to Lyall’s personal life. Without him a significant portion of this story would not have been told. Sandy’s book, “Interesting Times: A Biography of Colonel G. T. Lyall, VC” was privately published in 2004. He generously listed me as a co-author, but in fact he did most of the work. I extend my sincerest appreciation to all those who helped in the writing of this biography. Without their assistance much of this work would have been impossible. Here in Canada, I especially thank Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey R. Cairns, CD, and Major Brian D. Doucet, CD, for their assistance and encouragement. Major Alan D. Woolley, CD, UE, has been of tremendous assistance in solving my computer illiteracy problems and keeping my work in focus. Captain Floyd Low, CD, a staff officer at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa responded to my many enquiries for information from the library holdings in NDHQ. In the United Kingdom, Mr. Fred Stringer of Nelson was particularly helpful with details of the town of Nelson, the location of war diaries of the units in which Lyall served in the North African theatre of war and frequently provided comment on my various drafts. Dr. Chris Ward of Wereham, England, helped significantly with the Lyall family tree. iv A NOTE ON CONVENTIONS, USAGE AND ABBREVIATIONS Many of the abbreviations, acronyms, and the form of date and time conform to current Canadian Army usage. I have used the military, or 24-hour clock, throughout to be consistent with time quoted in various documents.

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