Lest we forget ...

Today Canada recognizes Remembrance Day, a time when we pause to honour our veterans of conflicts past and present. A time to remember the sacrifice of those who so valiantly fought and never made it home.

Today I will remember in particular one of the many brave men in our family who have served. I will remember him because for many years he was forgotten. His name was Arthur Manuel Hall. He was my maternal great-great-grandfather.

I discovered Arthur quite by accident. I was researching the background of a medal that my father had been given years before. As I examined it, looking for information to enter into my google search I found a name and service number inscribed on the side of the coin-like medallion. The name was Arthur M. Hall. I recognized this as my great grandfather's name, Arthur Montague. Curious for more details of my great grandfather's service I performed a search of the national Library and Archive's World War I database. I found Arthur amongst many other Arthur Halls, but one stood out. It was the name just above his. The name was similar, Arthur Manuel Hall, maybe a coincidence, but the regimental number for the two soldiers was almost identical. I clicked on Arthur Manuel's name. I was amazed as I read his attestation, or enlistment papers. Arthur Manuel was Arthur Montague's father.

I called my grandmother and pressed for details. She knew none. We had worked on the family tree before and there was never any mention of Arthur Senior. Even with the details I could now provide her my grandmother remembered nothing. She explained that she knew very little even about her own father, who died when she was only a teenager from complications related to being gassed during the war. There was never any talk of her grandfather.

It was an odd feeling to be the first person in decades to be introduced to Arthur. His papers told me he was a small man, only 5'4". He had a dark complexion with black hair and brown eyes. He had his initials "A.H." and a figure tattooed on his left arm. Arthur worked as a tin smith.

Over the next several weeks I tried to find out as much as I could about Arthur Senior. It was as though this long lost member of my family was coming to life before my eyes. The information was sparse. I learned about his regiment, where he fought, that Arthur had been killed in action. After consulting with a message board of WWI experts I also learned the details of Arthur's death. One of the members had taken the particulars and found the diary record for Arthur's battalion on the day he died.

War diary of the 1st Canadian Infantry Battalion 1917, Dec. 9th:
"During Day Enemy very quiet. Enemy barrage came down on right of our front line at 2:00 A.M. Enemy raided battalion on our immediate right – (27th Canadian Battalion) – Enemy never passed our wire. One non commissioned officer and 10 men wiring. Night very dark. Weather raining. Casualties – four on right killed, two on right injured"

That is all, just a notation on a page. There is no description of how. There is no name.
His military records disclose no more about his death. There is no medical report. The casualty card simply states "killed at front," his injuries apparently catastrophic since no aid was administered. He was simply one of four killed on the right, a notation in a column in a journal.

I am comforted however that he was not one of the countless unidentified soldiers buried in an unmarked grave. Arthur Manuel was laid to rest in a reportedly pretty little cemetery in the French countryside. The details of how he came to be in this serene place under the shadow of a large stone cross, rather than one in a vast landscape of crosses in one of the larger burying grounds remains a mystery yet for me to solve. But I know this. One day I will travel to France and find the pretty little cemetery known as "la sucrerie", after a sugar factory that once stood on the grounds. I will find this place and seek out quadrant II, plot C, marker number 13 and I will sit by my great-great grandfather's grave and I will tell him that he is not forgotten.

Lest we forget ...