Corporal James Ewan Eastlake trained at Valcartier with the first contingent and was promoted for efficiency and conduct to Corporal the day before the first Canadian Contingent sailed for overseas. He landed at Plymouth, October 17th, 1914, trained at Salisbury Plains, and proceeded to France February 6th, 1915, going into action February 14th, 1915, at Nouv-Chapelle, with the 5th. Battery of the 2nd. Brigade. On the field he won rapid promotion and was given the rank of Staff Captain at the Royal Artillery Headquarters of the 3rd. Canadian Divisional Artillery. Was promoted Major on Headquarters Staff at end of War and when demobilisation began until its conclusion he acted as assistant Adjutant General at the various demobilisation camps in England. He was in Kahki 5 years and 8 days, was in every engagement in which Canadians took part and was never wounded.

Major Eastlake landed at Halifax August 15th 1919 and was discharged due to demobilisation.

Rank: MAJ (41002) Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 2808 – 15, Item: 371719, PDF: B2808-SO15. Date of Birth 30/04/1892

James Eastlake was born in Ridgetown, Ontario the son of Mr. C. H. and Helen (McPherson) Eastlake of that town He was a 22 year old clerk at E. G. Rykert & Co., in Montreal, PQ. He enlisted in the 2^nd Brigade, 5^th Battery Canadian Field Artillery at Valcartier 26 Sept. 1914.

While at Valcartier taking the very basic training available there for the 1^st contingent James was promoted the Corporal the day the battalion departed for England.

A small note in the Chatham Daily Planet 24/02/1915, reports on a letter the family received from James, “on the eve of his departure with the 1^st Contingent for France.”

James found time to write a letter “from the firing line” to his father dated 26 April 1915 and published in the Chatham Daily Planet 18/05/1915. He realizes that the family will have heard of the great battle he is involved in well before his letter to them makes it’s way to Ridgetown but want to convey his personal impression of it to them.

“You no doubt have heard about the great battle in which the Canadians played such a heroic part at great cost. We have been in the thick of it and believe me there was some hell-popping all the time.” He credits his Major and good luck and a good “bunch of horse shoes” for their relative safety so far, “only one man wounded and three horses killed”. Not so lucky for the horses.

He goes on to say that he hasn’t had his boots off for five days nor washed in a week, and “nearly every man is stone deaf as a result of the increased din of the firing”.  There has been almost no opportunity to sleep with the,  “swarm of guns around us and the bursting of the German shells”.

The Germans he says have “some terrible shells, and although the beggers have been dropping within a few feet of us not a man has been hit. Pieces of shrapnel continually pass close to one’s ears.”

He has been observing thousands of troops moving up and large numbers of poor wounded moving back in greater numbers over the last three days. It is no safer at the guns he says, “it’s a pretty ticklish business not knowing but that the next one will blow your gun and crew into eternity.” He ends his short letter with the common wish of soldiers in battle, “I hope to get a chance to write a decent letter in a few days. Affectionately yours.”       

Recalling his letter of the 26^th of April James now has time to expand on the events before and after that letter in one written on the 7^th of May 1915. The letter which appeared in the Chatham Daily Planet 3/06/1915 begins, “we have been through the real hell of war” and he feels inadequate to properly portray the events,” any attempt of mine to describe it would be too feeble to be worth while.”    

As the battle heated up on the 26^th the German shells were falling everywhere but right on the Canadian guns. Even though they expected a shell to fall on them, it was still a huge shock when one shell, “came right through the centre of our extension shield and burst on the trail of the gun.” All of the gun crew was hit by pieces of the exploding shell splinters, one of the gunners was killed and another on the next gun was seriously wounded. James was slightly wounded on the back of his hand and a piece of shrapnel sliced though the leather strap of his watch.

The next morning the Germans were back at it with “nine inch shells”. Raining down on the battery. “No. 4 gun was blown higher than a kite along with an ammunition wagon and a French gun on their right flank.” That evening despite the condition of the torn up field they managed to move the guns. A French general whose troops the battery had been covering, “complimented us on sticking to the guns under such terrific fire”.

According to Pte. Eastlake’s account the 28^th, “was rather quiet” but that changed on the 29^th with a “determined German attack. “We were subjected to a terrible fire, the result of the espionage employed by the Germans. We found three spies in the house alongside our gun position and they were all shot.” It was during this renewed bombardment that one of James friends was seriously wounded by “shrapnel bullets” striking him in the head and destroying his vision, his brother in the 48^th Highlanders had just been reported as killed.

The battery had also been hit on their left section destroying the gun and the whole detachment including the last sergeant. Things quieted down in the area after the 29^th but the strain had played havoc and “several officers and men of the brigade have gone to hospital, the result of nervous breakdown”.

The battle has been hard on the civil population, “every house has been leveled and the population has fled. Ypres and surrounding villages are terrible sights to behold – housed leveled, roads full of shell holes – dead horses lying everywhere”.  

James does thank his father for the parcel that arrived containing, “socks, tobacco, cigarettes, pipes etc. and as I recline at ease I feel most luxurious with a clean pair of socks and a new pipe. Affectionately Yours”. 

A letter appeared in the Chatham Daily Planet 16/06/1915 from James to his father written 18/05/1915. The headline “SHALL NEVER GET USED TO HORRIBLE SCENES” set the tone of what the young private would disclose. “Today we are many miles south of the scene of the famous battle of Ypres having seen the last of that place the night of the 14^th when we pulled up stakes to go into rest for a while having been in action for 24 days in the same vicinity”.

Having not seen any newspapers for over a week the troops can only speculate on what little they have heard from beyond their narrow view of the war. They have seen German prisoners going past and have heard that the British are “being very successful on this front.”  It had been a rough time in the line, “almost continually under fire but luckily suffered only a few casualties. The casualties in the battery number about 25 of which 7 were killed of the N.C.O’s only he pulled through without a scratch”.

This war, like all other wars, becomes a personal thing for each individual soldier there and Pte. Eastlake is no exception. “The one thing that gets my goat when being shelled is the sight of my friends being cut to pieces by chunks of shell, and no matter how long the war lasts I don’t think I shall ever get used to these scenes.” It’s the loss of others he says, he’s not worried himself, “one never seems to think of being hit”, small wonder that years latter you can see the hurt in a veteran’s eyes when he or she, recalls the friends who did not return.

He gives no personal account of his actions in the previous battles, “Suffice it to say that the Canadians were wonderful. I am proud that I am a Canadian and have done my little bit, and hope to hand over a few more bits yet.” He reminds his father that war is fickled and who is taken and who is spared is up to chance. “You must realize that a chap over here is not only the son of his father and mother, but a son of the nation, and it is going to cost more lives to lick the

Germans than most people think.”

Writing to his father C. H. Eastlake, dated “30 November, 1915” Lieut. Eastlake 5^th Battery, 2^nd Artillery Brigade, 1^st Canadian Division begins by reporting that the weather has been good, “bright days, frosty nights and little rain.” There was however a heavy storm the night before his writing, “It was very dark and had it not been for the flares, I’m sure I could not have reached my destination. As it was I fell into three separate trenches and walked into several barbed wire entanglements.”    

“A funny incident happened the other day.” Trench life has become rather matter of fact for the artillery officer from little old Ridgetown as he relates his “funny incident”. While standing in one of the front line trenches the Germans began to shell the area, “The first shell hit the parapet about ten feet from us and landed in a dugout where a man was sleeping”. Lucky for the slumbering soldier that the shell, “failed to explode, although the dugout caved in.” The man was dugout unharmed, “the only thing he could think about was the loss of his hat which he cursed in wonderful language.”

There seems to be no likelihood in the minds of the troops or James either, that this war that was going to end before Christmas 1914, will end any time soon and they will have to make the best of their situations. “Our officer dugout is now finished and is really a work of art. The officers have been busy giving their dugout a homey quality with, “classy wicker chairs in front of a roaring grate fire.” The Lieutenant shares this space with his Captain, “This wonderful dugout is 20 x 14’. The roof is made of logs unbarked. With burlap above them and the wall burlaped, a red brick fire-place and a red carpet on the floor we have a cozy home”. 

He is sending some presents home wishing his family a happy Christmas and new Years. He mentions seeing Dan McGregor a fellow Ridgetown man and enquires the whereabouts of Vern Dick. Chatham Daily Planet 24/12/1915

Sad news was received at the home of Mr. & Mrs. C. H. Eastlake. On Wednesday the 23^rd of February 1916, they received notice that their son, gunner Charles McPherson Eastlake, Regt. No. 72026 with the 6^th battery, 2^nd Canadian Field artillery had died on the 22^nd of February at the Liverpool Merchant’s Hospital, Etainles, France. 

He had enlisted at Winnipeg, Manitoba on the 17^th of September, 1914 and had left for the front on 16 May, 1915. He had been seriously wounded during an engagement at Armentiers, when an exploding German shrapnel shell killed and killed two others in his battery. It had been necessary to amputate his right leg Chatham Daily Planet 2/02/1916. He had gradually grown weaker after the operation and died on the 22^nd.

Beside James and Charles they had another son in England, “engaged in munitions work. Chatham Daily Planet 24/02/1916. Charles was buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, France. CWGC 

See Attestion record EASTLAKE J E Lt. copied. J.R. Hind

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sources

Chatham Daily Planet (27-10-1914), Chatham Daily Planet (24-02-1915), Chatham Daily Planet (18-05-1915), Chatham Daily Planet (03-06-1915), Chatham Daily Planet (16-06-1915), Chatham Daily Planet (24-12-1915)

Height	5' 10"
Eye Colour	Brown
Age	21
Complexion	Dark
Hair	Brown
Race	White
Birthplace	Ridgetown, Ontario
Religion	Presbyterian
Last Place of Employment	E. G. Rykert and Co., Montreal
Average Earnings	$1500.00 per year
Marital Status	Single
When Enlisted	August 7th, 1914
Where Enlisted	Montreal, Quebec
Next of Kin	Father- C. H. Eastlake, Ridgetown, Mother- Mrs. Helen Eastlake, Brother- W. H. Eastlake, B. A. A. C., C. Mac P. Eastlake, Gunner (Died of wounds) Sister- Helen Eastlake

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