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Sifton

4/23/2017

Ellis Wellwood Sifton

Ellis Wellwood Sifton was born in the small SW Ontario farming community of Wallacetown in October 1891. Stating his occupation as Farmer, Sifton joined the Canadian Expeditionary force early and enlisted in St Thomas Ontario with the 18th (Western Ontario) Battalion in October 1914. Unlike the large Convoy that conveyed 1st Canadian Division overseas, 2nd went to England on separate troopships and liners. Staying with the 18th, Sifton went overseas on the SS Grampian from Montreal, met another troopship at sea and arrived in Liverpool England in late April 1915.Their stay in the United Kingdom was to be brief. His service file is brief and says little of his time in the UK. Sifton was dutiful in sending $15 assigned pay home to his Father, John J. Sifton in Wallacetown every month.

18th Battalion was part of 4th Brigade 2nd Canadian Division was led Boer War Victoria Cross hero and controversial commander, Major General R.E.W. Turner and began to deploy to the Front to join 1st Canadian Division in September 1915. The newly promoted Corporal Sifton was among his C Company mates and left Folkstone for Boulogne on the 14th of September 1915.

The Division spent a cold but quiet winter in the line through Ploegsteert Wood and St. Eloi in the Belgian sector but in the early spring of 1916 began to come into constant action with the enemy. Cpl Sifton went through some of the bloodiest battles for the Canadian in 1916 seemingly un-scathed. From the actions at St Eloi craters in March/April to the Battle of Ancre Heights in October/November, the 18th Battalion and 2nd Canadian Division learned their trade in battle leading up to the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917. Cpl Sifton would have come through the battles of Mount Sorrel, Flers-Courcelette, Thiepval and Le Transloy but again his file is absent of any wounds, injuries or ailments. At some point, he was working behind the lines in the Divisional Train as a Driver but had volunteered to willingly return to a fighting role with his old C Company to “take a chance with the boys in the front line”. Promoted Lance Sergeant on the 14th of March 1917, Sifton would step off at the battle of Vimy ridge with his Battalion less than one month later.

On the 9th of April 1917, Lance Sergeant Ellis Wellwood Sifton and 18th Battalion began the attack on German positions. 2nd Divisions frontage was much narrower that their 1st Div neighbours on their right. Also, they have less of a distance to travel to their final line, only 2 miles. The battle’s opening barrage was furious and the Division as a whole suffered few casualties as they consolidated on the old German frontline (the Black line). During the attack, Sgt Sifton had noticed a German Machine Gun emplacement taking it’s toll on the advancing Canadians. Without hesitation, he dashed through a gap in the barbed wire and attacked the Germans position with rifle, bayonet and grenades. Crossing open ground, throwing grenades, Sgt Sifton gained the emplacement and killed the entire enemy crew. As his comrades followed behind to consolidate the position, Sgt Sifton single-handedly held off a small German counter-attack on the position with his bayonet and rifle butt. Just as this was defeated, a wounded German soldier snatched up a rifle and fired at Sgt Sifton’s back, killing him instantly.

Ellis Wellwood Sifton was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. His citation was printed in the London Gazette on 8 June 1917. Sgt Sifton lies buried in Lichfield Crater Cemetery at Thelus, not far from where he fell. His Victoria Cross is on display at the Elgin County Pioneer Museum in St. Thomas, Ontario.

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Pattison

4/23/2017

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808887 Private John Pattison

John George Pattison was born in Woolwich England on the 8th of September 1875. Woolwich was a Military Industrial town in Kent back then and is part of greater London today. It is not recorded what his background was but it was a mix of middle and lower class residents at that time. By 1906, John was married and had 4 children and had immigrated with his family to Canada.

By 1916, John was living in SW Calgary Alberta and was employed as a labourer with the Calgary Gas Company. It was the enlistment of his son, John Henry with the 82nd Battalion on the 4th of January 1916 that prompted John to enlist himself. He attested with the 137th Battalion in Calgary just two months later. John Pattison was said to have wanted to look after his son in service. At 40 years of age the training as an Infantry Private could not have been easy on him. Maybe more so with his short stature (a bit over 5’2” and 125lbs on enlistment. Still he seems to have been in fine shape and has no sickness recorded on his service file.

Departing Canada in August 1916 with the 137th Battalion, Private Pattison remained with his Battalion until they combined with the 175th Battalion and formed the 21st Reserve Battalion in England in January 1917 to provide reinforcements for the Canadian Corps in the field. It less than a month later that Private John Pattison joined the 50th Battalion, also a Calgary-recruited Battalion, in France. By then the 50th had seen action, as part of 10th Brigade 4th Canadian Division at Ancre Heights in October 1916. They spent a quiet winter in preparation for the upcoming Vimy Battle and that was about when John Pattison joined them. He did managed to be wounded in February, receiving “multiple contusions” from some unknown action but was back with his unit in a few days.

On the 9th of April 1917, the 4th Division, on the far left of the Canadian Corps, had measurably the least distance to cover to reach their first day objectives. Unfortunately, there were considerable terrain and enemy obstacles in their way. That combined with some gaps in the artillery fire plan led to the Division having a very difficult time. Pattison’s 10th Brigade was to act as follow on troops to the 11th and 12 Brigades and not attack the feature known as the Pimple until the following day. Events in 4 Divs front changed that plan.

On the first day of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, 11 and 12 Brigades ran into immediate difficulties and left many pockets of resistance still fighting and objectives un-taken. Canadian Battalions were greatly dispersed over their front and German cross-fire was even affecting 3 Div on the right. Hill 145 and the Pimple remained untaken and the units attempted to take their objectives in front of Givenchy En Gohelle. It wasn’t until the next day, 10 April that that Hill 145 was taken and 50th Battalion was committed. They and the 44th from Winnipeg were moved south and their task was to vault over the Hill and take the woods at the rear of the ridge.

It was on this approach that Private John Pattison won his Victoria Cross. As the Battalion struggled forward under fire, Pattison noticed a German Machine Gun stronghold taking it’s toll on the Canadians. Crouched over and going forward from shell hole to shell hole, he advanced on the position. When he was within range, Pattison stood up and threw three grenades at the enemy. Before the crew could recover, he charged with bayonet fixed and the German position was put out of action. Pattison comrades could resume their advance, taking ground and their ultimate objective. Private Pattison’s bold single-handed attacked led greatly to the entire Battalion advance continuing. His VC was announced in the London Gazette on 2 August 1917 but 42 year old Private John Pattison never read it. He was killed in action on 3 June 1917 near Lens. He is buried in La Chaudiere Military Cemetery, Vimy. His son, went to the front one month later but happily, survived the war.

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Milne

4/23/2017

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427586 Pte W.J. Milne

William Johnstone Milne was born in Cambusnethan, Scotland in December 1892. This town, located just off the road between Glasgow and Edinburgh must not have had much to offer a lad as, in 1910 at the age of 17, he left for Canada.

William Milne took up the profession that so many Europeans who came to Canada in those days took; Farming. Handy sized 160 acre lots of prairie were available by a wise Canadian government who knew that the opening-up of the West to immigrant settlers and their subsequent development of these lands benefitted the Dominion as well. All that was required was hard back breaking work to tame it.

As the First World War took hold of the British Empire, many rushed to the colours and many did so at a more relaxed pace. Many of those British-born had begun to benefit from their efforts and were not drawn immediately to enlistment and some were anxious to return to the British Isles. While patriotism must have played a large part, some must have found it a convenient excuse to “go home” after failing to find their fortunes or finding the toil too much. Statistically, those from the British Isles did less well in the rural Canadian settlement and British-born made up almost 70% the CEF enlistments early in the war. William Milne’s fortunes as a Farmer are not specifically recorded but it was not until a full year into the War that he enlisted in the 46th Battalion of the CEF in Moose Jaw SK, in September 1915. He was 23 years old.

Arriving in the UK with his Battalion in November 1915, Pte Milne’s Service File is rather bare until April 1916 when he spent alternating stints in Hospital in Aldershot and Bramshott for Influenza and Venereal Disease. Considered almost a self-inflicted wound, he was appropriately docked sixty cents a day in pay for his VD. He transferred to the Continent in June 1916 and joined the 16th Battalion in the Field. Here Canadians would serve on the great Somme battlefields until November. Although his actions at his Divisions battles at Flers-Courcelette and Ancre Heights are not recorded in his file, Pte Milne remained on strength with his Battalion despite repeated visits to Field Ambulance Units for Influenza complaints throughout the winter of 1916/17.

On the first day of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, the 9th of April 1917, Pte Milne and 16th Battalion as part of 3rd Brigade 1st Canadian Division were on the right of the Canadian Corps and have the furthest to advance to gain the day’s objectives. Almost as soon as his Battalion rose out of their jumping off trenches, Pte William Johnstone Milne noticed an enemy machine gun holding up the advance to their first objective at Black Line. Skillfully creeping by crawling on his hands and knees with a bag of grenades over his shoulder, through mud and shell holes, he approached the enemy position unseen and threw a grenade. The blast destroyed some of the crew and demoralized the rest into surrendering., the MG was captured and the advance continued. Later, in front of the Red Line, 16th Battalion was again held up by enemy fire. Milne again crept forward hole to hole and again made use of a grenade to blast an MG in a camouflaged concrete pillbox. He completed its submission with a bayonet attack that demoralized the MG crew to the point of surrender. Again, the advance continued but at some point, shortly thereafter and in some unknown manner, Pte Milne met his end on the Vimy battlefield. Although seen to fall, his remains were never recovered but he is enshrined on the Vimy Memorial and his Victoria Cross and two war medals are displayed at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

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MacDowell

4/23/2017

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Major TW MacDowell VC DSO

Thain Wendell MacDowell was born in Lachute Quebec on the 16th of September 1890. MacDowell only spent a brief time there as his parents separated and he was soon living in Maitland Ontario, just down stream on the Saint Lawrence from Brockville. Educated at Brockville Collegiate Institute, he joined the local Militia Unit, The Brockville Rifles. Spending a year with them, he then went off as a Student at the Univ of Toronto in 1910. While in Toronto he spent 4 month as an Officer Cadet in the Queens own Regiment. He completed his Bachelor of Arts Degree and in January 1915 was Commissioned as an Officer in the 38th (Ottawa) Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. MacDowell served with three other brothers, all going overseas, and one earning a Military Cross.

Now a Lieutenant, MacDowell and 38th Battalion began their war with a period of Garrison duty in Bermuda from August 1915 until May of the following year where they were succeeded by a French-Canadian Unit. The 38th proceeded directly to England and crossed the Channel to the front in early August joining 12th Brigade 4th Canadian Division in Belgium.

It wasn’t long before they were in the trenches and under fire but their initiation in the attack had to wait a short time. At the end of September, they moved south to join the Canadian Corps in the Somme operations and on the 18th of November went over the top for the first time. Newly-promoted Capt MacDowell was in the thick of battle and led his Company’s soldiers with dash and daring. Their advance was impeded by German Machine Gun fire but MacDowell was able to move close enough to silence not one or two but three MG nests by single handed use of grenades. He closed within throwing distance of the excellently sighted and murderously efficient positions and destroyed them aiding greatly in the capture of all their objectives. The course of the day’s battle was costly with the 38th having some 500 casualties killed or wounded, Thain MacDowell among the latter. He had been wounded slightly in the hand that day but also had been “blown up” by a shell that evening receiving a concussion. These wounds were to cause him great discomfort and he was evacuated to England to recover. For his Bravery and courage in that attack, Captain MacDowell was awarded the Distinguished Service order or DSO, an award just beneath the Victoria Cross in importance. In January 1917, he re-joined the 38th Battalion and was an Acting Major in the trenches in front of Vimy Ridge as the unit prepared for the Battle.

On the 9th of April 1917, the 4th Division was on the far left of the Canadian Corps and had the least distance to cover to their objectives. A lot of his was uphill in tightly constrained with trenches, wire, Machine Guns and concrete pillboxes. MacDowell had studied the maps and photos of the front line carefully and was meticulous in his own planning. From his previous experiences, he knew it was important to know where one was on the battlefield. His unit’s objective was just over the crest of the ridge itself. As the advance began, MacDowell and two of his Runners or Messenger soldier became separated from the main body of soldiers. MacDowell knew where he was so opted to press on. Spotting a Trench work that he thought would be a good HQ he was dismayed to find it covered by two German Machine Gun positions. MacDowell attacked one with grenades and destroyed it so effectively that the other gunner ran away in fright down an underground dugout. Following, Capt MacDowell and his two soldiers went down some 50 steps of tunnel before being confronted by 2 German officers and 75 of their soldiers. Thinking quickly and using the fact that the Germans could not see up the tunnel, Captain MacDowell made that he had a much larger force behind him and the Germans promptly surrendered. The 38th gained all their objective that day, more than 400 casualties was the bill.

Thain MacDowell was again slightly wounded in this action and when his unit came out of the line two weeks later, he was evacuated back to England. In June of 1917 it was announced that he had been awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroic actions on 9 April. He did return to the front briefly but was evacuated again and returned home to Canada to recover from the wars many effects. He did not return to the front again. Thain MacDowell had a successful business career after the war and remained in uniform as an Honorary Colonel. He died in the Bahamas in 1960.

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Dunning

4/14/2017

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Battle of Vimy Ridge diorama donated to 8th Hussars Museum

A New Brunswick man, Nick Dunning , who creates realistic dioramas of military battle scenes out of his home calls it a passion and a duty and he has now donated a piece in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge to the 8th Hussars Museum. Each piece of work Dunning creates has its start in his basement, which he calls “the bunker.” Dunning spends hours combining his passion for military history and his artistic eye for detail to recreate battles from the First and Second World Wars.

In 1968 / 1969 Nick wore the black beret as a reservist
with the 8th Canadian Hussars in Moncton at No. # 5 depot.

Interview with Nick Dunning

On March 29th 2017, a group of 8th Hussars Museum committee members were at the Museum to greet Nick Dunning. Nick arrived to donate a new diorama honouring the Battle of Vimy Ridge . Incredible Work!!
We are very proud to have the addition of this diorama to our 2017 exhibits at the 8th Hussars Museum as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the battle.

Nick Dunning Donates Vimy diorama

Photographs by Don Robinson

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Cadman

4/3/2017

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Private Leopold Wellington Cadman
Canadian Expeditionary Force

Leopold Cadman was born on May 5, 1880 to Jane and William Cadman in Anderson Settlement, NB. He had three sisters and two brothers. The family attended the Presbyterian Church. On October 28,1915, Leopold enlisted with the 85th Battalion, the Nova Scotia Highlanders. At this time, he was 35 years old living in Sackville, NB with his wife Mabel and their three children: two daughters, 9-year-old Alberta and 4-year-old Vessa and son Aubrey who was 6 years old. He had been supporting his family as a labourer working in the woods and as a farmhand. He was 5 foot seven in height and weighed 157 pounds.

Leopold arrived in Liverpool, England on the SS Olympic on October 18, 1916. On March 20, 1917, he landed in France and would be sent to the Arras sector to help in the battle preparation for the attack on Vimy Ridge. Leopold was part of the 85th Battalion which played a significant role at Vimy. Prior to April 9, the 85th was primarily a labour battalion. On the opening day of the battle the 4th Division was assigned the specific task of taking Hill 145. They struggled greatly and in desperation it was decided to send the untested 85th in to action. The typical artillery battle was called off as it was feared that the battalion would become victims of friendly fire. This however was not communicated to all of the troops. They waited for it for a short time and then went over the top with no protection. Within ten heart pounding minutes the enemy fell victim to a ferocious and heroic bayonet charge. The 85th’s success that day was miraculous. Leopold survived this day physically unscathed.
Two short months later he was not so fortunate. While fighting near Lens on June 26, 1917 he was wounded having received a gun shot wound to his right foot. This was the end of his time on the front. He was sent home for medical reasons on November 19, 1917. He disembarked from the HS Araguay in Halifax on November 28, 1917. During his time in the army, Leopold continued to support his family. They received his $20.00 pay monthly but virtually no correspondence from him during his time overseas other than a Christmas card his oldest daughter received in 1916.
Leopold returned home to Canada but never to Sackville. After disembarkation in Halifax, his military file indicated his movements to Saint John and Fredericton. He was officially discharged on August 19, 1918. He never made contact with his wife or three children. He never sent any further financial support. The family only learned later that he had relocated to Massachusetts where he moved in with a cousin who had served with the American army. The family was understandably perplexed and upset by Leopold’s actions and Leopold’s wife struggled to support her family. Leopold died on November 28, 1936 having never reconnected with his family back in New Brunswick. When his grandchildren would ask their parents about their grandfather, Leopold’s children would refuse to discuss the matter. They still struggled to make sense of their father’s actions from so many years ago.
Curiously a postscript occurred in this story in 1993 when Tom Evans in Liverpool, England was planting daffodils in a public garden. He found Leopold’s dog tag with the bullet that had been removed from his foot affixed to it as he was digging. Mr. Evans held on to the bullet for 20 years when he decided he should try to connect with the Cadman family. An article appeared in the Liverpool newspaper in 2013. Someone in Canada came across it who in turn tracked down Jack Trueman, Leopold’s grandson. Jack too has struggled to put make sense of his grandfather’s post-war experience. He continues to do research and to look for clues of what took place in his life from 1918 to 1936.

Global News

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Sifton

Pattison

Milne

MacDowell

Dunning

Battle of Vimy Ridge diorama donated to 8th Hussars Museum

Cadman

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Sifton

Pattison

Milne

MacDowell

Dunning

Battle of Vimy Ridge diorama donated to 8th Hussars Museum

Cadman

Archives

Location

Museum Google Reviews

Contact Us​We're also on Instagram! @8thHussarsMuseum

Contact Us

We're also on Instagram! @8thHussarsMuseum