| Rank | Private |
| Service # | 32995 |
| Unit # | CAMC |
| 24th Reg. | Yes |
| Resident | Ridgetown |
Regimental number: 32995 Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 311 – 38
Date of Birth 17/07/1893
Serving with the Ambulance Corps in France in July of 1915, he was one of the men from Chatham to leave for the Long Branch camp 18/08/1915 with Capt. George Musson. In a letter to W. A. Hammond of Chatham dated 22 July, 1915 Robert describes what life is like away from the trenches.
The French countryside is “so old fashioned you know, with thatched roofed cottages and old fashioned windmills everywhere to be seen and small gardens with excellent crops”. With the exception of the odd “Jack Johnson” interrupting their baseball and football games. [A “Jack Johnson” is the British nickname of the impact made by a 15cm. German artillery shell.]
He confirms that the accounts given in the newspapers, “are all true but impossible to describe the horrors of such a battle”. “It is impossible for anyone not here to understand the severity of a big battle such as we had a Ypres which (thanks to providence) I came through unscathed.”
He comments on the visit of Sir Robert Borden to the men of the 1st Battalion, “we are very grateful to him for risking all of the dangers here to speak a few words of encouragement to us.” Sir Robert Borden (1854-1937) served as Canada’s wartime Prime Minister from 1911-20.
Along with Robert were a number of other ‘Chatham boys’, Corporal LaMarsh, L/Cpl Rayner of from the 1st Bn. Stanley Morris, L/Cpl. Doughty and Privates Durrant and Coyne. Chatham Daily Planet 11/08/1915.
See Attestation record AUSTIN R G 32995 copied.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
| Sources | Chatham Daily Planet (11-08-1915), LAC-FMF |
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