These Post Cards were sent by Private Aaron Hubbard to his family while
serving with the 28th Battalion. They are being published with the kind
permission of the Chapple Museum.
Sept 15th
Dear Mother
I thought when I was writing to Willie I would send you a card to
let you know that I have not forgotten you. Tell Dad that I seen some of the
finest country this afternoon that I ever saw it was great. One would be a long
time getting around there before would see it. I suppose that there is not much
sports going on there this Time. I guess Willie is pretty lonesome at times. I
often think of him.
I will say goodbye with all good wishes.
From Aaron Hubbard
Dec 18th, 1916
Well Ma
I received you letter a few days ago and was glad to hear from you. We are all
well at present. We have got no parcels yet. I don't know if Jimmy has or not. I
have not seen him for over a week. I think some of my mail has gone to find
Percy's for I don't seem to get some of it. Well good bye Ma give my best wishes
to Dad and the rest of them.
I will write.
From Aaron Hubbard
This Post Card was sent by Private James Lavender to his family while serving with the 28th Battalion. They are being published with the kind permission the Chapple Museum
Sep. 6th 1916 Pte J.W. Lavender
From. J.W. Lavender 198535. 28thBattn
S.I.F (Removed by Censor)
Army Post Office
London, England
Am quite well. Am at base yet
Hope you get letters O.K. This is for my little Ma. Expect to go to the front
shortly. Will send Willie & Pete ???? one later on. Will write again as soon as
possible Love to you all.
By By
The next post card is from an unidentified member of the 94th to a Miss
Marjorie "Midge" Hayes of Barwick. The writer could possibly be James Lavender.
It is interesting to see that the card is from Ypres, which had been reduced to
rubble by the time that this card was probably sent. Was Midge Hayes somebody’s
sweetheart, or a sweetheart’s sister?
Another card from "Jim" to Barbara Hayes. We have been unable to find out who either person is and what happened to them.
Somewhere in France
Aug 29/8/16
Dear Barbara
I am well hoping to find you the same.
I am as your every lucky
Jim
More cards sent by "Jim" to someone in Barwick or Chapple in 1916.
With kind regards to you. From Jim. Somewhere in France, 1916.
From Boy Jim, Wishing you the very best of good wishes. S.I.F. 1917 & 1918
Dear Friend:- Sep 8 1916
Just a line to remind you of Fort Bile.
Pt 198844 A. Gordon
I sent you a card before but maybe you
14th Company
didn't get it. I heard you were in the kilts.
17th Army Reserve Batt.,
How do you like them?
East Sandling Camp,
I suppose you will be in the trenches by
Kent,
the time you get this and I wish
England.
you all kinds of good luck
(Sender Unknown)
16th Batt BEF
France
Patriotic post cards were made for specific units were a popular item for the men
(Letter to Ray Argyle, author of Turning Points: the Campaigns that Changed Canada, White Knight Publications, 2004.)
A Soldier’s Memory: Vimy Ridge
The battle of Vimy Ridge, fought Easter Weekend, April 8-9, 1917, was one of the turning points of World War I, when the Canadian Army stormed what had been thought to be impregnable German positions in northeast France. The heroism and achievement demonstrated by the Canadian Army at Vimy Ridge has made the battle a seminal event in Canada’s path from colony to nationhood.
By Percy Argyle
198747, 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles Enlisted in the 94th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Rainy River, Ont., January 11, 1916. Discharged as Lance Corporal, February 8, 1919.It is hardly possible to put into words what we, who went through this experience felt at the time. Age had a habit of dimming names and places and names of people but it can never dim the sights and sounds of what we experienced. The shelling, the mud, the apparent confusion out of which grew a single purpose, take the Ridge or else.
In reserves every battalion had a mock up of the ground we were to take and every day for weeks we practiced going over the Ridge. The evening of the 8
th we the 1st C.M.R. and our supports massed at Mont St. Elias and after dark we moved out. At Neiuville St. Vasst we were shelled and held up for a short time but by 5 a.m. we were already in position and waiting for the orders to go. As soon as we got into position our Sergeants came with the rum jug and each man got a shot of rum. It was cold and damp and mud up almost to your knees, shell holes full of water, a wounded man if he fell into one almost always drowned.At zero hour it seemed as if the heavens opened with one huge crash, it became as light as day, and after, only one thought: press on, get going. I do not remember how long we were getting to the top of the Ridge but it did not seem very long. By this time it was broad daylight and we could see right across the plain to the towns and villages on the other side. I do not know how far it was but it seemed to be about five miles to the opposite side.
The Germans thought the Ridge could not be taken, the dugouts and shelters themselves were impregnable to shell fire, but what are you going to do with someone sneaks up to your back door and lobs a Stokes mortar down your stairway. I would say lots of Germans were buried alive this way because after a Stokes mortar exploded in a dugout it caved the whole thing in.
There is room for lots of argument over Vimy one way or another but I would say it was a walk over for us, the shelling had been so long and persistent and we had followed it up so close there had been no chance for Fritz to do anything about it. The artillery was massed wheel to wheel and in depth as well as it is not hard to imagine what happened when they all opened up at once. It was possible on a still night to hear a bombardment on the English coast that was going on in France, roughly about 60-70 miles away or more. Even after the terrific pounding the German defences took they were still in good shape to use, if they had time to remobilize before our infantry caught up with them.
It is not easy to write about this, we did not have an overall view of what was taking place, it was limited to what we could see ourselves. I did see just before we went in the line that time, we were out in rest. Close by we had five observation balloons up, a German flier in a Fokker came by and shot the whole lot down just like that 1 2 3 4 5 and off back to his own lines. That was at Mont St. Eloi.
Percy Argyle
Creston, B.C.
January 2, 1962
Post card sent by the sister of a soldier from Dryden who was serving in the 94th. Courtesy of Barb Toskovitch.
Post card sent by a member of the Dryden detachment to his family, probably after he arrived overseas. Courtesy of Barb Toskovitch.
Post card sent by a member of the Dryden detachment to another soldier. Courtesy of Barb Toskovitch.
Front of a post card collected by a member of the Dryden detachment.
Courtesy of Barb Toskovitch.