#41 DIED AT VIMY

                                           THEODORE ST.CLAIR McDONALD

 

Theodore St.Clair McDonald was born in Wingham on January 19, 1898. His parents were Thomas McDonald, a local barber, and Mary Jane Homuth.

                                                        Wingham Advance May 18, 1916

Theo was apprenticing as a drug clerk when he enlisted with the 161^st (Huron) Battalion. Who knows for what emotional or political or social reason he enlisted on November 30 1915.

              

Based in London, Ontario, the unit began recruiting in Huron County in late 1915. Theodore was one month short of his nineteenth birthday, was 5’8” tall, weighed 136 pounds, fair complexion, dark hair and blue eyes. He trained in Canada for the next six months. In June he was appointed corporal, but in October he went awol, lost 4 days pay, and was demoted to private.

Theo declined to leave a Military Will, perhaps because he was so young and he had no personal property. His mother, Mary Jane was listed as next-of-kin.

Eighteen Wingham boys enlisted in the Huron Battalion and the town bid them an official farewell in June 1916.

                  Canadian Expeditionary Force 161st Battalion In London, Ontario June 22, 1916

                                        -from the British Library

        

                                                            Exeter Advocate June 29, 1916

       Theo and the 161^st left Canada on October 30, 1916 aboard the S.S.Lapland, a steam ocean liner.                                                      

                                                                    S.S.Laplander

As the war progressed and casualties mounted on the Western Front, it was necessary to replace losses in the field with fresh troops. New battalions trained in Canada were sent to England where most were absorbed into reserve battalions; thus, the 161^st was absorbed into other battalions. Theo was among the 150 men and 7 officers who were transferred from the 161^st Huron Battalion to the 58^th Battalion. They left for France on November 29, 1916.

Canadians were called to to the line at Vimy for the first time as an entire corps, fighting side by side. This was important not only for the soldiers but also for the young nation. For many, it signified the start of a process whereby Canadians would collectively build their cultural and national identity.

During the months leading up to the Vimy Ridge battle, small groups of soldiers were sent into the German lines to memorize the layout of the enemy trenches and weapon placements. (These trench raids would often take place at night and both attackers and defenders could suffer heavy losses.) These vital recollections were drawn by hand, from memory, by individual soldiers. Later, these detailed maps were issued to both low-ranking officers and non-commissioned members to help them succeed in the Vimy Ridge attack and despite the confusion caused by rifle fire, the maps helped the advancing soldiers to stay on course. The change in policy allowing soldiers to carry their own battlefield maps might seem like a minor one, but it had a significant effect on the CEF's success in the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

There is an excellent book by Kevin R.Shackleton, Second to None The Fighting 58^th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force that details, by month and day, where the battalion was and in what military actions it was engaged. (chapter headings below are from this book.) While Theodore McDonald is not mentioned, it’s fairly certain this book outlines what he saw and what he was doing alongside his fellow soldiers when he was in France from December to June. 

December 1916. Anatomy of a Trench Raid.  The 58^th  battalion was located part way up Vimy Ridge. In December, the battalion focused on the timing and method of their raiding parties. The raids were well-organized with each group assigned specific roles—e.g. one party would detonate an explosive on the enemy wire so another party could quickly go through the gap; another party would carry a portable bridge to place over the enemy trench so they could get to the enemy’s communication trench. Artillery and mortar crews practised firing their weapons to hit a specific target. The goal of the raiding parties was to take enemy prisoners, inflict casualties and damage enemy trenches. Theo’s battalion spent Christmas 1916 in the trenches in France. “Christmas Day was clear and bright, with a light wind from the southwest. The men carried out their fatigues before receiving a Christmas dinner of extra rations, particularly of rum and a special issue of pudding. There was no fraternizing with the enemy as had happened in the first two years of the war.” The battalion remained in brigade reserve until December 30, when they were returned to the front line.

January 1917. Winter Sets In. Theo was on the front line on New Years’ Day, 1917. “The trenches were in terrible disrepair; many of the dugouts in their section of the line had caved in as a result of the prolonged wet weather and steady German shelling.” The men dodged enemy mortars and some suffered shell shock. The battalion then served as a reserve brigade which meant positioning away from the front line. During the next five days, it suffered little from enemy activity. “The men spent the first day on bath parade, cleaning up from the mud of the front-line trenches. The next day was Sunday, and there was a church parade followed by an inspection. The remainder of the day was a holiday, possibly in recognition of New Years. The area around Arras likely provided diversion for Theo and his comrades and they may have visited small shops and cafes. Men with money to spend would always find a welcome in any inhabited town or village. Canadians learned enough French to ask for basic items. In the larger centres, the men could have their photos taken and made into postcards to send home. There were many Canadian units in the area, and the men often took time to walk to neighbouring units to visit friends or relatives.” Training now focused on learning about the key weapons and elements of trench warfare.

February 1917. Preparation for Something Big. By now, airplanes were being used to photograph enemy lines, drop bombs, strafe the enemy with machine guns and scout out and relay information about enemy positions and activity. The 58^th was introduced to a new platoon drill where two platoons would lead the attack and another would come up behind in support or reserve; this was called a creeping barrage.  All this training was in preparation for “something big.” But there were also the usual church parades and inspections, and route marches were used to keep men fit. Inter-unit football games fostered morale and gave men an outlet for their aggressive energies... “the period away from the front was being used to restore the spirits of the men, they had time to go for meals of eggs and chips at local cafes, wander though the villages, take in the latest Charlie Chaplin film and make the close acquaintance of the French girls.”

March 1917. Keeping the Enemy Off Balance. There was a lot of training on close-quarter fighting in trenches using bayonet and rifle. Gas respirators were tested with non-lethal gas. There were trench raids; it was British policy that each division conduct two raids a week. Mid March, the regiment was sent to the front line.

April 1917. The Battle for Vimy Ridge. The 58^th was to be a reserve battalion for the assault on Vimy Ridge. The Germans had held this six-kilometre-long ridge of high ground for over two years, and it was said to be the most heavily fortified portion of their front. The area behind the Canadian front lines was busy “as roads were prepared for the movement of vast quantities of stores and munitions necessary for the attack. Trenches and tunnels were dug to allow the men to move, unmolested by enemy fire, to the point where they would launch their attack. Telephone cable was buried to keep it safe from enemy shelling.” 

                                                           Vimy underground chalk tunnels

The 58^th Battalion was heavily involved in these preparations and many of the men were assigned to working parties. The wet weather meant that the roads and trenches were very muddy, making the work difficult, but the 58^th’s morale was still high. Bombardment of the enemy positions increased. It was important to locate and silence German artillery batteries. One way was through aerial photographs to locate enemy digging or repositioning. Another method to detect the enemy was to have observers equipped with high-quality surveying instruments plot muzzle flashes of enemy artillery when fired. Lastly the Canadians developed a system of sound ranging that used a series of microphones to record the sound of guns firing, again to locate the enemy batteries. All these methods were combined to locate and knock out, as many enemy batteries as possible before the Canadian infantry went over the top.

The 58^th discontinued its working parties and on April 9, moved up to the assembly trench. At 5 am, the final bombardment began; the British had allocated 2.6 million shells for this bombardment and the new shells detonated on impact in the enemy wire (rather than under it) so that obstacles could be better cleared. Most of  Theo's 58^th battalion was in reserve until April 11; the platoons had difficulty capturing enemy trenches as German snipers caused many casualties. On April 12, when the Germans began a withdrawal from the area, the 58^th was ordered to move forward and take the trenches. “The men were beginning to show signs of strain from being on the move and in action for an extended period…on April 15, the unit moved further east to take a position on the railway line. The newly captured territory yielded a substantial haul of booty…ammunition and engineers’ stores, 8 artillery pieces, one trench mortar…the enemy dugouts had electric lighting, something unheard of in the Allied front line trenches.” After nine days, now reaching the end of their endurance in the line, the 58^th was relieved and sent back to billets. In April, the 58^th had 23 men killed, 81 injured, 1 gassed, 11 missing.

                                            Vimy landscape today showing the bomb craters

May 1917. Keeping the Pressure On. The month began with the unit in reserve position on Vimy Ridge, occupied with working and salvage parties on the Ridge. In mid-May, the unit sent men out to various working parties for road repair and trench cleanup. The front was still active, but the men knew how to stay out of harm’s way and the casualties were light. A new occupation was assisting the Canadian engineers in tunneling operations; the tunnels carved out of the chalk was significant to success at Vimy as they allowed men to assemble safe from enemy artillery fire.

June 1917. Leading the Way. The battalion started the month of June in reserve. From there then men were sent out on working parties. The company trained, went to church. The War Diary describes June 14 as “quiet, with normal aircraft activity. Enemy rifle fire was active during the early morning and patrols were out but no encounters with the enemy. Enemy trench mortars bombarded the position that night.”  Enemy snipers claimed the life of one man who was most likely Theodore. “The casualty bill was heavier on Friday June 15 with three more soldiers killed and five wounded. They may have been hit as they worked at improving the battalion’s trenches or by the trench mortar attack that evening.”

he Battle of Vimy Ridge proved to be a great success but it came at a heavy cost. Of the 100,000 Canadian who served there, more than 10,600 were casualties and 3,600 who died. Private McDonald was 19 years, 5 months old when he was killed.

Theodore St.Clair McDonald is buried in Petit-Vimy British Cemetery, near the little village of Vimy.  On his grave it reads, “Be Thou Faithful unto Death and I will Give You a Crown of Life.” This cemetery contains 94 First World War I burials, 23 of them unidentified.

Theodore also has a memorial stone in the Wingham Cemetery.

 

                                                            Wingham Cemetery

He is remembered on the Wingham cenotaph and in Ottawa in the Book of Remembrance.

                                                                 Wingham cenotaph

                                       Page 281 First World War Book of Remembrance

                     

THEODORE ST.CLAIR McDONALD

                b. Jan. 19, 1898 in Wingham, Huron Co.

                d. June 15, 1917 in France

my 2^nd cousin 1x removed (Homuth line)

 

of note:

Theodore died in June 1917. In November 1917, there was an article in the Wingham newspaper about Theo’s grandfather, William Homuth.

 

                                                Wingham Advance-Times Nov. 22, 1917.

 

 

WILLIAM (WILHELM) FRIEDRICH HOMUTH

                b. Oct 26, 1838 in Brettenstein, Prussia, Germany

                m. Elizabeth Gingrich (1850-1902) in 1871?

                d. Apr. 20, 1928 in Toronto

Two very useful resources about the 161st and 58th.

website: https://www.huronremembers.ca

and Second to None by Kevin Shackleton