Capitaine-Abbé Georges Étienne Rosario Crochetière the only member of the Canadian Chaplain Service killed-in-action during the Great War.
Rosaire Crochetière, the beloved chaplain of the Royal 22e Régiment, died instantly in an artillery barrage near Flanders, on 2 April 1918. Padre Crochetière described by the men of his regiment like a father, a brother, a confidant, and a friend.
Early Life of George-Étienne-Rosaire Crochetière
Born on 19 July 1878 in Arthabaskaville and baptized George-Étienne-Rosaire Crochetière. Son of Alphonse Crochetière and Joséphine Cormier, of Arthabaska, Québec. His mother died in 1880 and his father remarried the following year with Azilda Dubuc. They eventually moved to Québec City where his father died in 1905. Azilda Bolduc never remarried and died there in 1937. Crochetière ordained to the priesthood in 1905.
Royal Canadian Chaplain Service
During the Great War, 524 clergymen served in the Canadian Chaplain Service. Of this number, 447 served overseas, and a number of those chaplains served with distinction, such as George Anderson Wells, an Anglican priest, who finished the war as the most decorated chaplain in the British Commonwealth.
Today, the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service (RCChS) contributes to the operational effectiveness of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) by supporting the moral and spiritual well being of military personnel and their families – domestically and internationally.
Corps Chaplains
The Corps chaplains in 1916 made strong representations to the authorities on various matters. One of these remedied when Father Workman went to Corps Headquarters and officially recognized as superior of the Catholic chaplains. The question of a second chaplain for the fifth brigade not adjusted till late in the year. New chaplains arrived in England in 1916 to the number of thirty-two, though a few of the older priests had to return to Canada.
The new priests Fathers French, Letang and Murray of Pembroke; J. J. O’Gorman and Carleton of Ottawa; F. Costello and Lowrey of London; Lockary of St. John; Murdock of Chatham; R. MacDonald and Gillis of Antigonish; McQuillan and O’Sullivan of Halifax; E. J. Macdonald of Alexandria; Nicholson of Kingston ; A. B. Coté of Peterborough; P. MacDonald of Charlottetown; Staley of Toronto; Pirot of Regina; Chartier of Sherbrooke; Crochetière of Nicolet; Bouillon of St. Boniface; Bradley of Victoria; R. A. Macdonell, O.S.B., of Fort Augustus, Scotland; Pickett, C.S.B.; Hingston, Paquin, and de la Taille, S.J., the last-named a French citizen; Daniel, Labonté, Gauvreau and J. Fallon, O.M.I.
Enlistment of Capitaine-Abbé Georges Crochetière
On 20 February 1916, Capitaine Georges Crochetière bid adieux to his parishioners of Sainte-Brigitte-des-Saults to enlist with the 178th Battalion.
178th Battalion
Organized in January 1916 initially under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel R Girouard. Mobilized at Victoriaville and recruited in Arthabaska, Nicolet and Drummond Counties, later extended to whole of Quebec province and to Eastern Ontario. Draft of 350 to 150th Battalion in September 1916, and draft of 50 to 163rd Battalion later in November 1916. Absorbed 233rd Battalion in March 1917. Embarked from Halifax 4 March 1917 aboard CANADA, and disembarked in England later on 15 March 1917 with a strength of 20 officers, 415 other ranks. Absorbed by 10th Canadian Reserve Battalion on 15 March 1917.
Capitaine Georges Crochetière passed his medical exam in Montreal at the age of 37, measuring 6′ 1″ tall at 225 pounds on 21 March 1916. Finally on 9 May 1916 Crochetière boards a special train at Victoriaville and departs for Sherbrooke.
England
On 9 October 1916 at Witley North Camp with the 150th Bn CEF, Capitaine Georges Crochetière writes to his aunt Madame J A Picher of Princeville he has been in England since the previous Friday.
Move to Bramshott Camp on 24 November 1916.
Overseas
Capitaine-Abbé Georges Crochetière proceeded overseas for service 25 August 1917. Attached to 22nd Battalion from 9 September 1917.
22nd Battalion (Van Doos)
Organized in October 1914 initially under the command of Colonel F M Gaudet. Mobilized at St-Jean, Québec, and also recruited throughout the province of Québec. Embarked from Halifax 20 May 1915 aboard SAXONIA and later disembarked England 29 May 1915 with a strength of 36 officers, 1097 other ranks. Disembarked in France 15 September 1915 with the 2nd Canadian Division, 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade, and later reinforced by 10th Canadian Reserve Battalion.
During the year several of the chaplains decorated and some obtained their majority. Changes included the posting of Father E. J. MacDonald to the 4th brigade, Fathers McGillivray and Crochetière to the 5th brigade, Nicholson to the 8th, P. A. MacDonald to the 11th, while Father Carleton went to the 3rd Artillery, Father C. Fallon to the 5th and Father Hussey to the 8th Railway Troops.
This year saw some of the severest fighting experienced by the Corps. Vimy in April, Lens in August, and Passchendæle in October and November, great Canadian triumphs. Some of the chaplains wounded slightly or fell ill, but nearly all returned to their posts eventually. The increase in numbers allowed the Senior Chaplains to staff the Corps completely, and to man the hospitals and other units of the Line of Communications.
Capitaine Georges Crochetière granted 14 days leave, 14 January 1918, returning to unit 2 February 1918.
1918
With 1918 the Corps and the Chaplain Service faced its sternest test. The German attacks in the spring, the counterattacks that followed until the Armistice, created new problems in a war of movement. Some of the chaplains again wounded slightly, Fathers Madden (twice), Tompkins and O’Reilly, while Father Nicholson gassed. Father Crochetière killed, April 2.
Capitaine-Abbé Georges Crochetière Killed-in-Action
Capitaine-Abbé Crochetière killed-in-action just after dawn on 2 April 1918 along with 8 Other Ranks. In the trenches in the vicinity of Mercatel.
As chaplain of the 22nd battalion, the one entirely Catholic unit in the Corps, he necessarily accompanied them even to the front line of trenches. The battalion in the line south of Arras in Easter week, 1918.
The chaplain met his death the Tuesday after Easter, while in the support trenches, about a thousand yards from the enemy. While lying down in a hut used as a dressing-station after attending to some wounded soldiers, instantly killed by a shell that fell in their midst. Father E. J. Macdonald of the 4th brigade called to him. He describes the scene:
“The ambulance men, the men of his own battalion, and in fact any who came in contact with him, spoke of him as a kind and real father. It was a sad sight to witness the cruel work of execution of that German shell, but one realized that here was a priest who had died doing a priest’s work, and no more need be said in his praise. One expression, however, was used by many of his boys, and may serve to show us as priests, how our work is appreciated if done properly. ‘He was a real father to us. He worked for us and we never had to go without Mass and the Sacraments.’”
Father E. J. Macdonald
Slightly injured in the explosion Private Joseph Roussin MM from Oka, Quebec. Joseph earns his fifth wound stripe later on 28 May 1918.
Private Joseph Roussin MM died 8 March 1949 and buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, Oka, Quebec.
Casualties
Privates Anthime Bernard 291652, Armand Boyer 416098, Edward John Gadbois 457718, Theodore Gagne 61832, Joseph Shaw 672968, Anthime Vanier 847904, Corporal Philippe St Ours 416832 and Lance Sergeant Octave Tellier 120606 perished along with the padre in the early morning explosion.
Wailly Orchard Cemetery
Les bataillons de la 55ème division (West Lancashire) de Liverpool ont commencé le cimetière en mai 1916, en tant que cimetière de première ligne, dissimulé devant un haut mur et dissimulé sous une observation allemande. Il était peu utilisé en 1917, mais en mars-août 1918, il fut considérablement agrandi par les unités canadiennes et autres défendant le troisième front de l’armée.
Le cimetière Wailly Orchard contient 366 sépultures datant de la Grande Guerre, 15 non-identifiées, et dont 59 soldats identifiés de Royal 22e Régiment (‘Van Doos’, 22e bataillon d’infanterie canadien). Le cimetière a été conçu par Charles Holden.
Private Anthime Bernard
Son of Jean-Baptiste Bernard of Inwood, Manitoba. His first name is inscribed as “Anthime” in the Book of Remembrance but he signed “Anthine”, and inscribed as such in the 1911 Manitoba census. This first name not common, but it does exist.
He stated being born in Terrebonne Quebec, but no trace of him in the Registres de l’état civil of Québec. The 1911 Manitoba census shows that he would rather have been born in France and would have immigrated with his parents in 1905.
Private Armand Boyer
Baptized Joseph-Hilaire-Armand Boyer. Son of Protector Boyer and Caroline Desrosiers, of Montréal, Québec. He stated being born on 6 June 1892 when he enlisted.
Private Edward John Gadbois
Son of Alfred Gadbois and Alice Riopel (deceased in 1901). His father remarried to Rose Gagnon in 1902 and died in 1911.
He declared his brother Wilfred (“Fred”) and his sister (Ms. Fred St. John), of Holyoke, Massachusetts, as his next of kin.
Private Théodore Gagné
Baptized Étienne-Théodore-Joseph Gagné. Adoptive son of Ovila Perrault and Marie-Louise Gagné, of Montréal, Québec.
The age inscribed on his headstone is incorrect, and should rather be 25.
Private Joseph Shaw
Son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Shaw, of Campbellton, New Brunswick.
Corporal Philippe St-Ours
Baptized “Felix” but called “Philippe” before the age of one. Son of Godfroi St-Ours and Euphémie Lévesque, of Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
Philippe attested born in 1891 upon enlistment.
Lance Sergeant Octave Tellier
Son of Édouard Tellier and Albina Blais, of Montréal, Québec. Upon enlistment, he declared born on April 18, 1889.
Private Anthime Vanier
Son of Cléophas Vanier and Octavie Groulx (deceased in 1907; his father remarried to Odila Perrault in 1907), of Montréal (Cartierville), Québec.
He stated being born in Beloeil on October 15, 1893 when he enlisted.
Antheit Communal Cemetery
Unusually, the padre buried in the communal cemetery in the town of Bailleulmont, rather than closer to the front line with his comrades in Wailly.
Perhaps the location allowed more men of the 22nd Battalion to attend the ceremony, or may have been insisted upon by the villagers themselves, like in the case of Regimental Sergeant Major James Kay (Antheit Communal Cemetery in Belgium). Note RSM Kay’s headstone above restored recently by the CWGC.
BAILLEULMONT COMMUNAL CEMETERY
The cemetery in Bailleulmont unusual in that the graves marked by stones made from Locharbriggs sandstone, rather than the more usual Portland stone. These stones eventually rejected by the IWGC. One of three prototypes, these stones had a tendency to weather poorly and discolor, though the padre’s stone in exceptional condition.
Bailleulmont a village in the Department of the Pas-de-Calais, 530 metres south of the main road from Arras to Doullens (N25). The BAILLEULMONT COMMUNAL CEMETERY at the south-west end of the village, on the road to La Cauchie (D1); and in the east corner of it, to the right of the entrance, a plot containing the graves of 33 soldiers from the United Kingdom.
Legacy
Eighteen priests earned decorations or mentioned in dispatches. Lt. Col. Workman received the Military Cross and made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
The Distinguished Service Order given to Lt. Col. French and to Major Madden. The latter previously earned the Military Cross, which decoration awarded also to Lt. Col. Fortier, Majors MacGillivray, McCarthy and Tompkins, Capts. E. J. MacDonald, R. A. MacDonell, C A Fallon, Nicholson, O’Sullivan and Murray. Father Murray moreover given a “ bar” to his M. C. Majors J. J. O’ Gorman and Knox made Officers of the Order of the British Empire.
Captain Carleton granted the Belgian Croix de Guerre. Fathers French, Fortier, Lockary and Letang mentioned in dispatches, the first-named twice. Fathers O’Leary and Knox “brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War for valuable services rendered in connection with the war.”
Father Beausoleil, while in the French army before he became a Canadian chaplain, won the French Croix de Guerre. Several priests wounded, though only one was disabled and one killed.
Courage in the Face of Fire
Writers or speakers sometimes remark of certain soldiers that they were fearless. Only the exceptional man could be so regarded. Of course one became in time accustomed to shellfire, and perhaps to some extent a fatalist, or, if a good Christian, resigned to the designs of Providence, and accordingly went about his duty without being too much concerned with the danger of the moment. The number of narrow escapes remarkable.
Father William Doyle
Impressed upon the chaplains that their lives particularly valuable, as they could not be easily replaced. But while exercising reasonable precautions, times when risks had to be incurred. “When duty calls,” wrote one priest, “I know I can count on the help of One Who has never failed me yet.” Shortly after, he died in the mud of Flanders in 1917. He was the Irish Jesuit, Father William Doyle.
Father Doyle spoke self-depreciatingly of himself.
“I am not foolhardy, nor do I expose myself to danger unnecessarily; the coward is too strong in me for that.”
Father Doyle
The bravest men often those who admitted their shrinking from danger. Soldiers not all equally equipped with nerves of steel. It is of record, on the testimony of his friend and fellow-chaplain, Father Fortier, that the one Canadian priest killed at the front, Father Georges Crochetière, never succeeded in overcoming fear of danger. But Father Fortier added in his letter to the dead chaplain’s Bishop, Mgr. Brunault of Nicolet.
“Nevertheless he never flinched, and duty was for him sufficient order to be everywhere.”
Father (LtCol) Fortier
Contact CEFRG
More
- Home of CEFRG
- Blog
- CEFRG on FaceBook
- CEFRG on YouTube
- Soldiers and Nursing Sisters
- Units (Brigades, Battalions, Companies)
- War Diary of the 18th Battalion (Blog)
- 116th Battalion CEF – The Great War
- Les Soldats du Québec Morts en Service
- Montreal Aviation Museum
- Battles of the Great War
- Cases
- Cemeteries
- Memorials
- On This Day
- About CEFRG