TMiflRST riViWUMDRED "? N, V. ^^w^ M. ! ^ WlSB ^(mzf'^ir Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2007 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/firstfiveliundredOOcramuoft The First Five Hundred The First Five Hundred Being a historical sketch of the military operations of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in Gallipoli and on the Western Front during the Great War (1914-1918) Together with the individual military records and photographs where obtainable of the men of the first contingent, known as the "The First Five Hundred," or "The Blue Puttees." By RICHARD CRAMM Published by C. F. WILLIAMS &. SON. INC Albany. New York. U. S. A. All rights reserved I\|55C7 Preface THIS volume has a twofold purpose. The first is to chronicle briefly the military operations of the heroic, fighting battaUon that repre- sented Newfoundland among the gallant and victorious troops of the British Empire in the greatest war of history, and to illustrate its persistent gallantry and splendid achievements by reference in each chapter to con- spicuous individual heroism. The second purpose is to put in compact form and within reach of the public the individual military records of the first contingent which embarked from Saint John's on the most solemn duty that has ever been thrust upon our country. The latter purpose has been greatly facilitated by the data available at the Militia Depart- ment. The task of procuring individual pictures of the men of the first contingent, which would add meaning and individuality to each record has, however, been a most difficult one. Only slightly less difficult has been the task of getting proper information regarding the various engage- ments in which our Regiment took part. The work has necessitated scores of interviews, and a continual search for scraps of information wherever it could he found. This work docs not profess, however, to be a detailed record of the whole of the movements and a complete descrip- tion of every engagement of the Regiment. Many readers may be for tunate enough to be able to supplement some of the descrijitions or move ments with interesting information already in their possession. These, however, will be comparatively few. The hope is that the information contained herein will become general, especially among the young people of our country, who, when reading of heroes and heroic accomplishments, will not forget the heroes of their own country. R. C. SERGEANT RICKETTS, V. C. W guns away, began to bring up their gun tc«m^ rtalizcd the situation. He doubled back 100 ' n and dashed back to the Lewis jjun, !ie enemy and thfir pun teams into a i!...!a;t?d without casualties, and captured ^uns and eight prisoners. A fifth field gun 1 by fire and captiu-ed. By his prt-srncf ares and undoubtt'«iK PRIVATE T. RICKETTS PRIVATE T. RICKETTS was awarded the \'ICTORIA CROSS for most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty on October 14, 1918. During the advance from Ledgehem the attack was temporarily held up by heavy hostile fire, and the platoon to which he belonged suffered severe casualties from the fire of a battery at point blank range. Private Ricketts at once volunteered to go forward \vith his Section Commander and a Lewis Gun to attempt to outflank the battery. They advanced by short rushes while subject to severe fire from enemy machine guns. When 300 yards away, their ammunition gave out. The enemy, seeing an ojipor- tunity to get their field guns away, began to bring up their gun teams. Private Ricketts at once realized the situation. He doubled back 100 yards, procured some ammunition and dashed back to the Lewis gun, and by very accurate fire drove the enemy and their gun teams into a farm. His platoon then advanced without casualties, and captured four field guns, four machine guns and eight prisoners. A fifth field gun was subsequently intercepted by fire and captured. By his presence of mind in anticipating the enemy intention and his utter disregard for personal safety. Private Ricketts secured the further supplies of ammuni- tion which directly resulted in these important captures and undoubtedly saved many lives. SIR RICHARD»ANDERSON SQUIRES. K. C. M. a. PRIME MINISTER SIR RICHARD.ANDERSON SQUIRES, K. C. M. C, PRIME MINISTER ^-^ HoN.S.J.FoOTE.K.C. Hon. Arthur Barnes.Ph.D. -A//h/sffr o/"£cti/ca/iOn W.B.Jennings.Eso. Ah'nisfer a/PiMc UinrAs SIR E. P. MORRIS (NOW LORD MORRIS) Who was Prime Minister of Newfoundland at the out- break of the great war and quickly rallied Newfoundland to the aid o( The Empire. JOHN R. BENNETT, ESQ. '-i^Uiiiial Secretary of Newfoundland 31 the war. He later became the fir« Minister break <i< I" the alo JOHN R. BENNETT, ESQ. Who was Colonial Secretary of Newfoundland at the outbreak of the war. He later became the first Minister of Militia. LIEUTENANT-COLONEL (REV.) THOMAS NANGLE Newfoundland's Representative on the Imperial War Graves' Commission. PART I h of the Military Operations of the Newfoundland Regiment LIEUTENANT-COLONEL (REV.' THOMAS NANOLE Newfoundland's Representative on the Imperial Nljr Graves' Comntlssion. PART I Historical Sketch of the Military Operations of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment r\<^ CHAPTER I From Saint John's Through GaUipoli When the great war-cloud burst over the world in August, 1914, New- foundland was engrossed in her peaceful occupations. From a military standpoint no country could be in a state Newfoundland unprepared of greater unpreparedness. Such various for a military emergency. Church organizations as the Methodist Guards, the Highlanders, the Church Lads' Brigade and the Roman Catholic Cadets had very little resemblance to a modem military organization, though their ranks became rapidly de- pleted by the enlistment of the Regiment. And even those organizations were confined to Saint John's. In the outiwrts there was no group or body of men either in the nature of a miUtary or social organization that could render any assistance as a unit in preparing to fight an enemy. From the standpoint of immediately available untrained men the country was scarcely more prepared than in military organization. It was the time of every year when almost the entire country is engrossed in the prosecution of the cod fishery. Large numbers of men were scat- tered along the Labrador coast, far from the excitement and anxiety caused by the international cloudburst. And others, a greater number, were engaged in the same work at their homes around the entire Island. They wore engrossed in a means of livelihood that could not be put ofl for a month, or even a week, hut a kind of work upon the success of one brief week of which the happiness of the family for the entire year might depend. At any time of the year from October to May the response to a L national call would have been many times as great. The Government, however, lost no time in taking suitable action to meet the emergency. On the eighth of August Governor Davidson wired the Secretary of State as follows: "Ministers desire au- land and >-' Government thority to enlist special men ser\'ice abroad by Action. sea. Ministers undertake to raise force of Naval Reserve by October 31st to 1000 efficient men available for naval abroad for one year and are wnlling to meet all local expense. Several hundred with efficient local brigade training offer for enlistment Page Nineteen I'Mf^ one for land service abroad. Believe that 500 could be enlisted within month. Propose to induce serviceable men between 18 and 35 years to enroll themselves in training for home defense wherever corps instructors are available. These will form material for further drafts." On the following day the Secretary of State repHed to Governor Davidson: "Your telegram of August 8th. His Majesty's Government gladly avail them- selves of offer of your Government to raise troops for land service abroad. Will telegraph later as to Naval Reserve." For the purpose of making good OUT offer, a preliminary meeting was held on the afternoon of the tenth of August in the Executive Council Chamber, and was presided over by the Prime Minister, Sir E. P. Morris. Besides the Prime Minister there were present at that meeting the Colonial Secretary, Mr. J. R. Bennett; Lieutenant-Commander MacDermott of the H. M. S. Calypso; Inspector General Sullivan; Captain Wakefield, M. D., of the Legion of Frontiersmen; Major Hutchings of the Methodist Guards' Brigade; Lieutenant-Colonel Rendell of the Church Lads' Brigade; Lieutenant- Colonel Patterson of the Highlanders; Major Carty of the Catholic Cadet Corps; Captain Goodridge and Captain J. W. Morris of the Rifle Club. On Wednesday m'ght, August 12, a public patriotic meeting was held in the C. L. B. Armory, the purpose of which, as stated by Sir E. P. Morris (now Lord Morris), was to endorse what the Government had already decided on. The enthusiasm of the meeting left no doubt that the public endorsation of the Government's action was unanimous. During the following week patriotic meetings were held for the purpose of getting together an efficient organization that would be responsible for the immediate development of a miHtary force. The public spirit ran high. While public excitement, and, in consequence, confusion, would have been more pronounced, the spirit of unselfish patriotism and of resistance of a brutal and militaristic enemy could not have been greater if the enemy were at the entrance of Saint John's harbor. On August 21, a proclamation was issued by the Governor-in-Council calling for 500 volunteers. If the patriotic meeting of the twelfth lacked anything in the way of demonstrating the public endorsation of the Government's action that was unquestionably supplied by the public response during the days immediately following the issuing of the proclamation.