L/Cpl Alexander Fairweather Bunch 532735 was born 30 November 1876 in Dundee, Scotland. He immigrated from Scotland to Canada with his wife Annie and 4 young children, circa 1904. He was a carpenter for a coal company. Alexander served with No. 13 Canadian Field Ambulance, C.A.M.C. Killed-inActio in the town of Vis-en-Artois. It was the first day of the Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Line, 2 September 1918.
Enlistment
L/Cpl Alexander Fairweather Bunch attested 13 May 1916 at Victoria, B.C., at the age of 39 years and 6 months. Standing 5′ 6″ tall, with fair complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair, he weighed 135 lbs. Private Bunch arrived in Liverpool, England aboard SS METAGAMA on 9 July 1916. Then, marches 17 miles to Bramshott Camp on 11 July 1916.
Alexander continued his training, Infantry, Squad Company and Battalion drill. Also, stretcher Drill (he became a stretcher-bearer), with and without ambulances. Then, lectures on A.M.C. Training and Military Law, Route Marches and Practical Field Ambulance work in conjunction with training maneuvers of Infantry Units. Admits for bronchitis to the Military Hospital, Bramshott Camp on 24 July 1916. Later, discharges to duty from Connaught Hospital, Aldershot on the last day of the month.
No. 13 Canadian Field Ambulance
No. 13 Cdn Fld Amb proceeded to France on board troopship COPENHAGEN, 12 August 1916, with Lieut.-Col. J.L. Biggar in command. Major A.L.C. Gilday promoted to Lieut.-Col. and assumes command when Lieut.-Col. Biggar is evacuated sick on 22 December 1916. A memorial plaque at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (Ottawa), dedicated to Major General James Lyons Biggar, C.M.G. Promoted to Quartermaster General of Canada in 1917. Biggar died at Toronto on 19 February 1922.
Western Front
No. 13 Cdn Fld Amb entered the Western Front east of Ypres, on 17 August 1916. Within a few days, deployed to the Main Dressing Station at Ouderdom. Then, the Regimental Aid Post at Voormezele, and the Advanced Dressing Station (A.D.S.) at Dickebusch in Belgium. Later, relieved by 4th Australian Division, on night of 17/18 September 1916. By the first week of October 1916, they are in the thick of it once again. Stationed at the famous Red Chateau, Courcelette on 8 October 1916. Finally, the work is dangerous, and casualties among the stretcher-bearers continue.
Battle of Ancre Heights
During the Battle of Ancre Heights, on 22 October 1916, the unit processes a staggering 541 casualties. 179 Canadians, 329 British, and 33 Germans.
Assisting No. 12 Cdn Fld Amb, Private G.W. Paterson Killed-in-Action on 26 October, and they are replaced in the line by No. 12 Cdn Fld Amb the following day. Construction of the A.D.S. at Sunken Road begun on 8 November 1916. The work is extremely dangerous under constant fire, casualties in the unit becoming more frequent. On their last day of duty at the A.D.S., 527 British and 84 Germans processed, 26 November 1916.
Camblain-l’Abbé
On 6 December 1916, the unit takes over the Divisional Rest Station at Barlin from No. 6 Cdn Fld Amb, and two weeks later the Divisional Rest Station from No. 3 Cdn Fld Amb at Estrée-Cauchy, just north of Canadian Corps HQ at Camblain-l’Abbé, Pas-de-Calais. A stormy Christmas Day spent in the field. A new Main Dressing Station constructed at Villers-au-Bois by late January 1917. Then, following a very “gassy” period, the unit takes over from No. 2 Cdn Fld Amb. Now at Chateau de Coupigny, and the Convent at Hersin in late March. They begin preparing for the Battle of Vimy Ridge. On 9 April 1917, the adjutant records in the war diary the greatest number of casualties on hand. The maximum during the day 2,650 (a total of 4,358 processed).
The unit moves to the Nissen Huts adjoining No. 12 Cdn Fld Amb at Grand-Servins on 14 April 1917, and then takes over McGill A.D.S. on 24 April 1917. The work becomes difficult in the muddy-season. Several moves become necessary over the next month as their dugouts at Mont St. Eloi and Ablain-St. Nazaire destroyed by air raids.
Grand-Servins
They are back at Grand-Servins by late March 1917 for a well-deserved rest. First game of the Inter-Ambulance Competition on 8 June 1917 is the first step to rebuilding moral in the unit. Corps Sports and the Horse Show attended on 19 June 1917, concluding two days later. Hot water showers now installed. An impromptu concert held on the grounds. Contributed to by personnel and patients back at Estrée-Cauchy on 3 July 1917.
Sir Arthur Currie’s attempt to restore morale among all units of the Canadian Corps has been extremely successful. The unit is on a high, following a 1-0 win in overtime football match versus the 47th Battalion on 17 July 1917. And, they are positively ecstatic with winning the Divisional Championship on 20 July 1917.
Returning to the lines before the end of the month. The unit stationed in middle tunnel at La Coulotte. August and September of 1917 finds the unit dealing with gas-casualties from the Liévin sector on a constant basis. The unit sent for rest in mid-September, enjoying concert parties and several football matches. The adjutant notes the Bath Parade to Chateau de la Haie on 28 September – “…but no water.”
Corps Sports
At the Corps Sports Finals on 29 September, the unit falls 1 to 0 at the feet of the 27th Battalion. Moving off from Coupigny on 12 October 1917, the unit heads north for the Battle of Passchendaele. They have no idea of the horrors which await them. Memories of their first stint in Belgium during August 1916 will quickly be forgotten. On 21 October, they relieve 10th & 11th Australian Field Ambulances. Only one war diary entry stands out during the Battle of Passchendaele – “26 October: No wounded through our station. Corporal S. Poxon killed in action.” The unit entrains at Brandhoek on 2 November heading to Caestre for rest.
While the Canadian Corps moves back to the Vimy area, the unit proceeds to the Prison at Ypres. Establishing forwards posts at Tyne Cott and Levi Cottage. Bidding adieu to Belgium until demobilization in 1919, the unit heads back to Bruay, France. Before the end of November, but Alexander will not live to see Belgium again. January and February of 1918 are cold, and the work, though as dangerous as ever, becomes routine. March is fairly quiet as the unit is tending V.D.G. cases at Aix-Noulette. 265 cases are given the option to be evacuated or return to duty, yet the majority choose danger.
A/Bbdr Richard F. Walshe
The unit moves to Roclincourt on 29 March 1917, and members of No. 13 Cdn Fld Amb visit my grandfather, A/Bbdr Richard F. Walshe of the 61st Field Battery again on 1 April 1918 (first encounter was in August/September 1917 at Liévin).
Alexander appointed Lance Corporal in the field on 6 April 1918. He receives his Good Conduct Badge later that month on 30 April. By mid-may, the unit is back to playing football and ‘indoor’ baseball. Preparing for the Corps Championships, held at Tincques on Dominion Day. But, first the unit participates in the 4th Canadian Divisional Sports at Pernes on 12 June 1918.
Competition is fierce – but the unit falls twice to No. 12 Cdn Fld Amb in baseball. Under extreme secrecy, the entire Canadian Corps moves south for the Battle of Amiens to begin 8 August 1918. Following the battle, the unit moved north again to Aubigny on 28 August, taking up occupancy at A.D.S. Beaurains from the 1st British Division. L/Cpl Alexander Fairweather Bunch is now in the caves near Bergere Corner on the Arras – Cambrai Road.
The Death of Lance Corporal Alexander Fairweather Bunch
05h00 on 2 September 1918, during the first day of the Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Line. No. 13 Fld Amb opens an A.D.S. at the Rohart factory on Arras – Cambrai Road. Massive congestion on the road with German prisoners pouring in. L/Cpl Alexander Fairweather Bunch Killed-in-Action near Snipe Copse, a wooded area, just south of Wiencourt-l’Équipée, Pas-de-Calais. He was assisting dressing the wounded men in a dugout, when an enemy shell hit the door instantly killing him.
The circumstances of Private Peter McBeth‘s death are similar to that of L/Cpl Alexander Fairweather Bunch. Peter, serving with No. 12 Fld Amb, Killed-in-Action the next day, 3 September 1918. He was working with a party at the A.D.S. near Vis-en-Artois, loading stretcher cases on light railway trucks for evacuation. A train had just been loaded and was moving out, when he was instantly killed by an enemy shell which exploded amongst the party.
Alexander’s widow Annie residing at 419 Georgia St. West, Vancouver, received his Victory Medal and British War Medal on 21 November 1921. Annie Bunch took part in the Vimy Pilgrimage of 1936, taking the time to visit her husband’s grave. Photos above and below of Lance Corporal Alexander Fairweather’s grave by Annie Bunch.
L/Cpl Alexander Fairweather Bunch lies in the first plot, first row, grave 27 at Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery. A somewhat prestigious location given there are more than 500 identified Canadian casualties in this cemetery.
Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery
Vis-En-Artois, and Haucourt taken by the Canadian Corps on 27 August 1918. The cemetery begun immediately afterwards, and used by fighting units, and field ambulances until the middle of October. Originally consists of 430 graves (in Plots I and II), of which 297 are Canadian, and 55 belong to the 2nd Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. Increased after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields of April-June 1917, August and September 1918, and from the smaller cemeteries in the neighbourhood. The cemetery now contains 2,369 burials and commemorations of the Great War. 1,458 of the burials unidentified, but there are special memorials to eight casualties known or believed to be buried among them.
Vis-en-Artois Memorial
The Vis-en-Artois Memorial bears the names of over 9,000 men who fell in the period from 8 August 1918 to the date of the Armistice in the Advance to Victory in Picardy and Artois, between the Somme and Loos, and who have no known grave. They belonged to the forces of Great Britain and Ireland and South Africa; the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand forces commemorated on other memorials to the missing. The Memorial consists of a screen wall in three parts. The middle part of the screen wall concave, and carries stone panels on which names are carved. It is 26 feet high, flanked by pylons 70 feet high.
Stone of Remembrance
The Stone of Remembrance stands exactly between the pylons and behind it, in the middle of the screen, is a group in relief representing St George and the Dragon. The flanking parts of the screen wall also curved and carry stone panels carved with names. Each of them forms the back of a roofed colonnade; and at the far end of each is a small building. The memorial designed by J.R. Truelove, with sculpture by Ernest Gillick, unveiled by the Rt. Hon. Thomas Shaw on 4 August 1930.
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