1 Private George Vey (Number 420691) of the 16 Battalion

Private George Vey (Number 420691) of the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), Canadian Expeditionary Force, having no known last resting-place, is commemorated in the stone of the Canadian National Memorial which stands on Vimy Ridge. (Right: The image of the shoulder-patch of the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) of the C.E.F. is from the Wikipedia web- site) (continued) 1 His occupation prior to military service recorded as that of a plumber, George Vey appears to have left behind no history of his early years in the Dominion of Newfoundland*, nor of his movement from there to Canada. All that may be said with certainty is that he was in the province of Manitoba during the first month of the year 1915, for that was where and when he enlisted. *Except to say that he is recorded on his Attestation Papers as having served in the para- military Newfoundland Highlanders – although he is absent from the unit’s Roll of Honour. According to his first pay records, January 5 was the day on which Private Vey began to be remunerated for his services to the 43rd Canadian Overseas Battalion (Cameron Highlanders of Canada). Also on that day, in the city of Winnipeg, George Vey underwent a medical examination which pronounced him to be…fit for the Canadian Over Seas Expeditionary Force. Attestation was undergone on that same date again, his oath witnessed by the Commanding Officer of the 43rd Battalion by which unit he had been taken on strength. The formalities of enlistment were then brought to a conclusion when the same officer, Lieutenant Colonel Robert MacDonnell Thomson, declared, on paper, that…George Vey…Having been finally approved and inspected by me this day…I certify that I am satisfied with the correctness of this Attestation. January 5 of 1915 had been a busy day for Private Vey. The 43rd Battalion (Cameron Highlanders of Canada) had been authorized to form in only December, 1914, the month preceding George Vey’s enlistment, and it was to recruit mainly from the area of Winnipeg. The new Minto Armoury in the west end of the city was opened at or about this time, thus it was possibly there that Private Vey was now to train until the Battalion was ordered overseas. He had less than five months to wait. It was to be on May 29 of that spring of 1915 that the thirty- nine officers and one-thousand twenty other ranks of the 43rd Battalion boarded a train in Winnipeg for the journey across a third of the continent to the city and harbour of Montréal. There on June 1, Private Vey’s unit boarded His Majesty’s Transport Grampian, a requisitioned ocean-liner of the Allan Line, for the Atlantic crossing. (Right above: The image of Grampian is from the Old Ship Picture Galleries web-site.) The 43rd Battalion was not to travel alone: also taking passage on the vessel to the United Kingdom were First Re-enforcement Drafts for the 44th and 45th Canadian Infantry Battalions. Grampian sailed later on that same June 1 and some eight days later docked in the English naval facility at Devonport. From there the Battalion was transported – perhaps on the morrow - by train across the country to the Canadian military complex of Shorncliffe, established by that time in the county of Kent and in the vicinity of the harbour and sea- side town of Folkestone. 2 The 43rd Battalion was now to once more train and to once more await the call for overseas service, although on this occasion the sea would be the English Channel and the service would be active and on the Western Front. (Right: Little remains of Shorncliffe Military Camp today apart from a barracks occupied by Gurkha troops. The Military Cemetery almost alone serves as a reminder of the events of a century ago. – photograph from 2016) Like many other Canadian Infantry Battalions which were to disembark in the United Kingdom during the Great War, its personnel was used to re-enforce other Canadian units already serving on the Continent. But unlike these other battalions, the 43rd was eventually, in February of the following year, to cross the Channel to serve in the 3rd Canadian Division which, in 1915, was still in the process of being organized*. *Before the end of the Great War, Canada would have despatched overseas more than two- hundred fifty battalions – although it is true that a number of these units, particularly as the conflict progressed, were to be below full strength. At the outset, these Overseas Battalions all had aspirations of seeing active service in a theatre of war. However, as it transpired, only some fifty of these formations were ever to be sent across the English Channel to the Western Front. By far the majority remained in the United Kingdom to be used as re-enforcement pools and these were gradually absorbed, particularly after January of 1917, by units that had by then been designated as Canadian Reserve Battalions. Thus it was that Private Vey’s unit would be ordered to provide two re-enforcement drafts for the 16th Battalion of the 1st Canadian Division, and Private Vey himself was to be a soldier in one of these detachments. In the meantime, however, while still at Shorncliffe, he was making his presence known to the unit’s authorities. On two occasions he was apprehended for drunkenness: for the first misdemeanor on July 5 he was awarded ten days of Field Punishment #2; for the second such offence, on August 18, he was fined the sum of two dollars – two days’ pay. Private Vey and his draft were to travel to France on the night of October 12-13, 1915, likely via nearby Folkestone and the French port of Boulogne on the coast opposite. Whichever was the route that was taken, he reported to the Canadian Base Depot at Rouelles – in close proximity to the industrial port-city of Le Havre situated on the estuary of the River Seine – on that second date. Three days after his arrival, having in th the meantime been taken on strength by the 16 Battalion (Canadian Scottish), on October 16 he was forwarded to his new unit, (Right above: A view of the coastal town of Folkestone almost a century later as seen from the top of the white cliffs of nearby Dover – photograph from 2009) 3 (Right: A photograph of the French port of Boulogne at or about the time of the Great War – from a vintage post-card) At this time the 16th Battalion was serving with the 1st Canadian Division in the Ploegsteert Sector, Belgium, in the area of the Franco-Belgian frontier. The Battalion War Diarist, however, has made no mention of any re-enforcements having arrived to duty during this period - possibly because the unit’s fighting companies were at the time serving a tour in the forward trenches, whereas Private Vey’s Draft would likely have reported to the Headquarters or Transport positions behind the lines. Private Vey was now on active service. (Right: The French port-city of Le Havre at or about the time of the Great War – from a vintage post-card) * * * * * The 16th Battalion had embarked at Avonmouth on February 11, 1915, and had crossed from England to the port of St-Nazaire, Brittany, from there to be transported by train towards the north. By February 17 the 16th Battalion had reached the northern French town of Armentières on the Franco-Belgian frontier where it was to spend a week. During the month which was to follow, the unit had then served in and about the Laventie Sector just to the south of Armentières. Then, on the morning of April 16, after having spent several days in the area of Cassel, the unit had crossed the Franco- Belgian frontier. It had been transported by bus into the Kingdom of Belgium, travelling from Steenvoorde on French territory to the village of Vlamertinghe just to the west of the Belgian city of Ypres (today Ieper). (Right above: Busses requisitioned from the public transportation system in London being used to carry troops in Belgium – from Illustration) (Right: While the caption reads that these troops are ‘English’, this could mean any unit in British uniform – including Empire (Commonwealth) units. It is early in the war as there is no sign of a steel helmet. – from a vintage post-card) By late in the day of the 16th, the 16th Battalion, having skirted on foot the ruins of Ypres to the west and north, had occupied trenches in the area of St-Julien (Sint-Juliaan), there having relieved French troops of the 79th Infantry Regiment. (continued) 4 (Right below: The caption reads merely ‘Camp of Canadians’ but it is from the early days of the Great War, thus likely in either northern France or in Belgium. The troops are from a Canadian-Scottish unit. – from a vintage post-card) Even the first units of the Canadian Division to arrive there had been serving in the Ypres Salient for only a short space of time. During these few days of Canadian tenure the Salient would prove to be relatively quiet, with little more than the constant enemy artillery to worry about. But then the dam had burst - although it was gas rather than water which, for a few days, was to threaten to sweep all before it. The date was April 22, 1915. (Right: An aerial photograph, taken in July of 1915 – just after Second Ypres - which shows the shell of the by-then almost- abandoned medieval city, an image entitled Ypres-la-Morte (Ypres the Dead) – By the end of the conflict there was to be little left standing.

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