First Victoria Cross Engineer
Captain Coulson Norman Mitchell VC MC earned his medals of valour with No.1 Tunneling Company and 4th Battalion, Canadian Engineers in the Great War.
Coulson Norman Mitchell the only Canadian Engineer to have earned the highest medal of valour in the British Empire – the Victoria Cross.
Early Life of Coulson Norman Mitchell
Coulson Norman Mitchell born 11 December 1889 in Winnipeg, son of Captain Coulson Nicholas Mitchell (90th Winnipeg Rifles during the 1885 Rebellion), and Mary Jane Ptolemy (descendant of Admiral W H Hall, commander of HMS Nemesis).
Norman grew up at 310 Furby Street (a location of the University of Winnipeg today) and attended Mulvey School and the Winnipeg Collegiate Institute, as an Officer in the Cadet Corps, before finally graduating from the University of Manitoba as an Engineer. A member of the engineering team of the Active Militia that righted the a grain elevator near the Canadian Pacific Railway North Transcona Yard.
Enlistment of Private Coulson Norman Mitchell
Private Coulson Mitchell 596 also enlisted with his two brothers, Lieutenant Stanley Hall Mitchell and Captain Isau Gladstone “Ivan” Mitchell, with Coulson enlisting at Ottawa, Ontario on 21 January 1915 with the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps.
Mitchell Brothers
Lt Stanley Hall Mitchell died while on Command in Canada, 9 April 1915. Captain Ivan Gladstone Mitchell, wounded 31 October 1917, served with the Winnipeg Grenadiers and died 1 March 1973.
Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps
Organized in the spring of 1915 as a result of a request by the British Government for Canada to supply a railway construction unit for service in France. Commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel C. W P Ramsey, a construction engineer on eastern line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The RCC mobilized at Saint John, and also recruited by Canadian Pacific Railway throughout Canada.
Left Saint John 14 June 1915 aboard HERSCHEL, and later arrived in France 25 August 1915, initially attached to 2nd and 6th Divisions of the Belgian Army. Returned to England 5 October 1915 for transfer to Salonika but orders rescinded on collapse of Serbia. Returned to France 2 November 1915, attached to Royal Engineers. Later absorbed with Canadian Railway Troops, 23 April 1918.
France
First tour of duty
Private Coulson Norman Mitchell landed in Le Havre, France on 25 August 1915. The RCC immediately put to work laying track with the Belgians. Corporal Coulson Norman Mitchell returned to England along with the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps on 5 October 1915 with a view of obtaining a commission.
Canadian School of Military Engineering
Canadian Engineers Training Centre or Canadian School of Military Engineering, located at this time at Seaford Camp.
Canadian Engineers Training Centre or Canadian School of Military Engineering, located at this time at Seaford Camp. 
General Sir William Robertson C.I.G.S. Inspecting Canadian Camps at Seaford, Sussex March 1918 
General Sir William Robertson C.I.G.S. Inspecting Canadian Camps at Seaford, Sussex March 1918
At Shorncliffe on 24 November 1915, Mitchell promoted to the rank of Serjeant.
On 28 April 1916, appointed Temporary Lieutenant and later on 1 May 1916, Lt Coulson Norman Mitchell granted a Commission in His Majesty’s Service.
second tour of duty
Lt Coulson Norman Mitchell proceeded overseas on 8 June 1916, only for an inspection, returning to base in the UK the following week.
third tour of duty
Then on 1 July 1916, Lt Mitchell once again proceeds overseas, this time to No.1 Tunneling Company.
1st Tunneling Company
Organized in September 1915 under the command of Major R P Rogers. Mobilized at Pembroke, Ontario, and recruited in mining centres in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Also obtained miners already enlisted in infantry battalions. Left Saint John on 1 January 1916 aboard METAGAMA, and later arrived in England on 10 January 1916 with a strength of 14 officers, 270 other ranks. Arrived at Le Havre, France on 16 February 1916.
Armentieres
No.1 Tunneling Company entered the Western Front at Armentieres on 8 March 1916, taking over from 182 Coy, Royal Engineers.
Several deaths among No.1 Tunneling Coy prior to Mitchell’s arrival, but he witnesses his first death in the company on 12 July 1916. LCpl Albert Clemmett 501130 buried at Dickebusch New Military Cemetery.
Sapper Thomas Curran Burns died on 20 July 1916 and buried at Ridge Wood Military Cemetery.
Sapper Taylor 501126 died on 3 August 1916 and buried at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.
Lt James Duncan Simpson died on 24 August 1916 and buried and Reninghelst New Military Cemetery.
Sapper Goldsworthy 501259 died on 14 November 1916, his body and that of Sapper Gilday 469691, fallen on 29 November 1916 never recovered. Therefore named on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
Military Medals
On 11 December 1916, the unit sets off four massive camoulflets of No.2 ammonial under the German front lines trenches. Later on 26 December 1916, news received His Majesty the King, The Army Commander awarded the Military Medal to men of No.1 Tunneling Coy.
- Second Corporal H Millar 501111
- A/2nd/Cpl T S Allan 501104
- Pte A J Lynch 67497
- Sapper J Doucette 471083
On 23 September 1917, Lt Mitchell promoted to the rank of Captain.
Military Cross
While posted in the Ypres area, Captain Mitchell involved in anti-tunneling work. On 11 December 1917, a member of a unit which set off a massive charge within 10 feet of the German trenches. Following the detonation, Mitchell and his comrades cut off from friendly lines for 12 hours, during which time he led the defence of his gallery with his pistol and electric torch, after which they made it back to friendly lines safely. Hostile tunneling in the area ended following this mission. His gallantry, skill, and courage behind enemy lines earned him his first medal of valour – the Military Cross.
Further decoration would follow within a year while with with the 4th Canadian Engineers Battalion. Captain Mitchell posted to the 4th Bn, C.E. on 10 July 1918.
4th Canadian Engineers Battalion
Organized in France in June 1918 under the command of Major H. D. St. A. Smith. Personnel from 4th Field Company, 2nd Canadian Pioneers, and No. 1 Tunneling Company, Canadian Engineers.
Victoria Cross
“For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty on the night of 8th-9th October, 1918, at the Canal de L’Escaut, north-east of Cambrai.
He led a small party ahead of the first wave of infantry in order to examine the various bridges on the line of approach and, if possible, to prevent their demolition.
On reaching the canal he found the bridge already blown up. Under a heavy barrage he crossed to the next bridge, where he cut a number of ‘lead’ wires. Then in total darkness, and unaware of the position or strength of the enemy at the bridgehead, he dashed across the main bridge over the canal. This bridge was found to be heavily charged for demolition, and whilst Capt. Mitchell, assisted by his N.C.O., was cutting the wires, the enemy attempted to rush the bridge in order to blow the charges, whereupon he at once dashed to the assistance of his sentry, who had been wounded, killed three of the enemy, captured 12, and maintained the bridgehead until reinforced.
Then under heavy fire he continued his task of cutting wires and removing charges, which he well knew might at any moment have been fired by the enemy.
It was entirely due to his valour and decisive action that this important bridge across the canal was saved from destruction.”
London Gazette, No.31155, 31 January 1919
March to the Rhine
Captain Coulson Norman Mitchell VC MC crossed the Rhine at Bonn at noon, 13 December 1918 with the 4th Battalion, Canadian Engineers.
Mitchell remained at Troisdorf, Germany until February 1919 when the 4th Battalion returned to Anhée in the municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium.
Following a few months of Khaki School instruction, the 4th Battalion returned to the Canadian Embarkation Camp at Le Havre on 12 April 1919. However, Captain Mitchell had already proceeded to the UK for an audience with the King.
Return to England
Mitchell returned to the UK on 1 April 1919, awarded the Victoria Cross and personally decorated at Buckingham Palace by King George on 4 April 1919.
Captain Coulson Norman Mitchell VC MC continued to serve with the Canadian Engineers Regimental Depot and returned to Canada on 21 April 1919. Retired the following week at Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Service Awards and Decorations
- Victoria Cross
- Military Cross
- 1914-15 Star
- British War Medal
- Victory Medal
Demobilization
Following the Armistice, Captain Coulson Norman Mitchelll sailed for Canada on 14 April 1919, returned to Winnipeg and married Gertrude Hazel Bishop at the Fort Rouge Methodist Church on 8 November 1922.
The Mitchell’s later moved to Montreal, where he worked several years at the Power Corporation of Canada and led what else, but an unassuming life? His colleagues wholly unaware of his military exploits until his request for leave to accept a Prince of Wales dinner invitation.
Government House 1967
The Right Honourable Daniel Roland Michener, PC, CD, QC, Governor General of Canada, with recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross at Government House, June 1967.
Front row from left to right: Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey, VC, MC; Raphael Louis Zengel, VC, MM; George Randolph Pearkes, VC, PC, CB, DSO, MC, CD; the Governor General; Paul Triquet, VC, CD; Ernest Alvia “Smokey” Smith, VC, CD (was last living recipient); and Benjamin Handley Geary, VC.
Easy to spot Captain Coulson Norman Mitchell in this image. Look for the most unassuming man to the right the Victoria Cross recipient in the white jacket.
Rear row from left to right: Ernest Ralph Clyde Frost, GC; David Vivian Currie, VC, CD; Alexander Picton Brereton, VC; Charles Smith Rutherford, VC, MC, MM; Charles Cecil Ingersoll Merritt, VC, ED; John Keefer Mahony, VC; Coulson Norman Mitchell, VC, MC; Frederick Albert Tilston, VC; Arthur Dwight Ross, GC, CBE, CD; Thomas Fasti Dinesen, VC; John Weir Foote, VC, CD; and John MacMillan Stevenson Patton, GC, CBE.
Second World War
Mitchell served with the Royal Canadian Engineers in the Second World War. He commanded the 1st Canadian Engineer Reinforcement Unit including an A-6 Canadian Engineer Training Centre at Vedder Crossing, British Columbia, as Camp Commander. Posted at Camp Chilliwack, BC from 1944 to 1948. A plaque in his honour later unveiled here on 12 October 1973.
LCol Norman Coulson Mitchell VC MC
Mitchell retired from the Canadian Forces with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, still the only Canadian Military Engineer to earn the Victoria Cross.
A daughter, Marjory Ruth Mitchell Urquhart born in Mishawaka, St. Joseph County, Indiana in 1924 died and buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens, London, Ontario in 2010.
Mitchell died at Montreal on 17 November 1978. Also commemorated in Manitoba with Norman Mitchell Lake (formerly Coulson Mitchell Lake, renamed upon request of his next-of-kin).
Mitchell also commemorated by the main building at Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering (CFB Gagetown). Mitchell Gardens (the former Married Quarters at CFB Chilliwack). A panel noting his leadership establishing the All Sappers’ Memorial Park and Cenotaph at Vedder Crossing.
LCol Coulson Norman Mitchell buried at M – 3051, Last Post Fund National Field of Honour in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.
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