First Canadian casualty on the Western Front
Many know the last Canadian casualty to die in the Great War, Private George Lawrence Price 256265 buried near the first Commonwealth casualty of the war, Private John Parr L/14196 in the magnificent St Symphorien Military Cemetery. But, who was the first Canadian battlefield casualty of the Great War? Corporal Norman Fry of the PPCLI, sniped on 8 January 1915 near Vierstraat, Belgium, has received little recognition as the first Canadian soldier to die in battle during the Great War.
Enlistment of Norman Fry with the PPCLI
Corporal Norman Fry 252 (note the low service no. of a soldier of the First Contingent) born 14 October 1887 in Wilton, Wiltshire, England. Father John Fry of North St, Wilton. A clerk, with 10 years previous experience in the 2nd Coldstream Guards, attested 26 August 1914 in Ottawa and initially assigned to No.1 Company of the PPCLI. At this time he stood 5′ 9″ tall, 173 pounds, with fair complexion, brown eyes and brown hair, 26 years, 10 months of age.
PPCLI
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) organized in Ottawa on 10 August 1914 for service with the British Expeditionary Force. Initially commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel F. D. Farquhar, and recruited amongst ex-soldiers of the South African War. Embarked from Quebec City aboard ROYAL GEORGE, and later disembarked in England on 14 October 1914. Arrived in France 21 December 1914, the PPCLI later joined the Canadian Corps on 25 November 1915, and assigned to the 3rd Canadian Division, 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade. Finally disbanded at Ottawa on 19 March 1919. Found a goat in Ypres in 1915 which became the regimental mascot, its kid, also a mascot, killed at Sanctuary Wood, June 1916.
Fry promoted Lance Corporal, Bustard Camp, 3 November 1914.
France and Belgium
Lance Corporal Norman Fry and the PPCLI embarked Southampton, 20 December 1914, arriving in Boulogne-sur-Mer the following day.
The PPCLI reach the front trenches at Dickebush on 6 January 1915, finding them in very poor condition. Men are ankle to knee deep in the water-filled trenches.
On 8 January 1915, No.4 Company shelled heavily in the early morning. Captain Newton and five men injured, two men killed, Corporal Fry and Lance Corporal Bellinger, the first and second battlefield casualties of the PPCLI in the Great War.
According to the PPCLI war diary, Fry and Bellinger buried in the trenches by the 3rd Battalion, K.R.R..
Bellinger’s body later exhumed and buried at Voormezeele Enclosure No.3. Therefore, Fry’s body also likely exhumed and buried in a cemetery. But which one?
Memorial Cross
Memorial Cross erected by comrades at Voormezeele, buried at a point Sheet 28.N.10.b.7.4 (50.803445, 2.844753) under a ledge south of Ouderdom-Wyschaete Road, about 500 yards west of Vierstraat. The mention of having been advised on 3 March 1917 as to the location of the grave under a ledge south of Ouderdom misleading. Indeed, Corporal Norman Fry’s body was buried here, but for less than a day.
Circumstances of Death Card – Corporal Norman Fry – Page Two
Exhumation teams still investigating the area in 1924 and they report Fry’s grave cannot be found.
Norman’s service record from January 1915 states burial in Voormezeele Enclosure No.3. Or, merely a Memorial Cross erected, in the case of no body?
Private Henry James Fry
Private Henry Fry 75 wounded same day as his brother Norman. Henry, Norman’s married brother survived the Great War, and later discharged in the British Isles as an Acting/Sergeant. He went home to his wife Kate, living at 2 Church Road, Down End, Bristol, England.
Captain D O C Newton MVO
The reason Private Fry’s body not found near Vierstraat in 1924 perhaps because his body brought back to Dickebusch Old Military Cemetery, and buried along with Captain Denzel Onslow Cochrane Newton MVO. According to Private Thomas Abram, Newton and Fry buried together on 9 January 1916 (Newton died day after Fry). Note a Memorial Cross planned for Newton at Voormezeele also cancelled.
First Friendly Fire Casualty
Sadly, Captain Newton not only the third PPCLI casualty of the Great War, but also the first friendly-fire casualty. Warnings had been given that Germans attempting to get into and behind the line. Captain Newton, losing his way in the darkness, walked through the lines between two outposts and found himself in No Man’s Land.
Turning back, he was challenged by his own men, but apparently failed to hear. The sentry on duty, getting no reply to his challenge, fired, only to recognize his officer’s voice as he fell. The sentry at once climbed over the parapet and dragged Captain Newton in to safety, but found that his own shot had been fatal.
Dickebusch Old Military Cemetery
The Old Military Cemetery used as a front line cemetery in January, February and March of 1915. The cemetery contains 46 Great War burials. There are also ten burials from the Second World War, all dating from late May 1940 when the British Expeditionary Force withdrew ahead of the German advance.
Some crosses visible in the photo captured by Captain Ivor Castle above. The graves of Fry and Newton are here in the churchyard cemetery.
Lance Corporal Henry George Bellinger
Bellinger died shortly after Fry, becoming the PPCLI’s, and Canada’s second battlefield casualty of the Great War.
Lance Corporal Henry George Bellinger 1264 of the PPCLI, father of Mrs Mildred Pollock (formerly Bellinger), of 14, Devonshire Avenue, Brantford, Ontario, also died 8 January 1915. Buried in Plot III, Row K, Grave 3 at Voormezeele Enclosure No.3. Evidently, Fry intended to be buried at Voormezeele Enclosure No.3, but his temporary grave near Ouderdom directly on the way to Dickebusch Old Military Cemetery. Newton’s funeral procession passed by this temporary grave, and the men realized Fry also could have benefited from a more formal ceremony.
Voormezeele Enclosure No.3
The Voormizeele Enclosures (at one time there were a total of four, but now reduced to three) originally regimental groups of graves, begun very early in the Great War and gradually increased until the village and the cemeteries captured by the Germans after very heavy fighting on 29 April 1918.
Voormezeele Enclosure No.3, the largest of these burial grounds, begun by the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in January 1915. Their graves in Plot III, the other Plots from I to IX are the work of other units, or pairs of units, and include a few graves of October 1918. Plots X and XII are of a more general character. Plots XIII to XVI were made after the Armistice when graves brought in from isolated sites and smaller cemeteries to replace the French graves (of April and September 1918) that were removed to a French cemetery. These concentrated graves cover the months from January 1915 to October 1918, and they include those of many men of the 15th Hampshires and other units who recaptured this ground early in September 1918.
There are now 1,611 Commonwealth servicemen of the Great War buried or commemorated in Voormezeele Enclosure No.3. 609 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 15 casualties known or believed to be buried among them.
Private Douglas Leach
Private Douglas Leach 856 the first non-battlefield PPCLI casualty (cerebro-meningitis) buried on the Western Front at Wimereux Communal Cemetery on 23 January 1915.
Wimereux Communal Cemetery
Menin Gate
Corporal Fry listed on the Menin Gate as one of The Missing, but Private Thomas Abram 204 lends credence to the theory Fry’s body rests in Dickebusch Old Military Cemetery, perhaps in the very same grave as Captain Newton. Common during several periods of the Great War to bury more than one soldier per grave.
Private Thomas Abram
Private Abram’s story reveals the reason Fry’s body not found by exhumation teams in searching Vierstraat during 1924. Corporal Norman Fry buried with Captain Newton at the churchyard in Dickebush!
Thomas Abram one of few original PPCLI to have survived the Great War, invalided home and returned to Canada in September 1915. He died on 9 April 1951.
Addendum
The following photo supplied to CEFRG by Jim Busby changes everything we know about the location of Corporal Norman Fry’s body, and once again, leads us to believe he is buried in Voormezeele Enclosure No.3. However, further investigation is required to ascertain why Private John Russell 1748 who died the day after Fry, is now identified as being buried in Plot III, Row B, Grave 6 (the exact location of Fry’s grave in this photo).
Zoom-in and we find the grave of Corporal Norman Fry directly behind that of Lieutenant Colonel Francis Douglas Farquhar. Lt Col Agar Adamson part of the cortege that buried Farquhar on the night he died. Not much sense can be attributed to the chronological arrangement by death of the PPCLI in Voormezeele. Referring back to Lance Corporal Henry George Bellinger, though he died and was buried perhaps within a day of Fry, their grave locations are a considerable distance apart.
Private James McNish
Private James McNish 858 cannot be buried under his head stone at Plot II, Row B, Grave 7 in Voormezeele Enclosure No.3. James died the day after Corporal Norman Fry. His Grave Register form partially records the location of his grave as “Row B, Grave 13” – plot unknown.
This may be Plot II, Row B, Grave 13, as neither Plot I nor Plot III has more than 7 graves. However, Plot II, Row B, Grave 13 belongs to Second Lieutenant Reginald Wilson Rae of the East Surrey Regiment who died on 30 March 1915.
Further examination of the cemetery plan reveals several graves missing in the “AA” Row of Plot II and Row C of Plot II. Possibly, McNish buried in this row which was also subject to shellfire. Invariably, his cross, found laying in this area, incorrectly re-erected over the destroyed cross of Fry. There are also issues with the dates of death and locations of bodies in this area. It is evident some graves are out of chronological sequence by date of death.
Important to note the graves not disturbed by the shellfire, only some of the wooden crosses over them. Also, the IWGC had not yet come into being, and proper graves registration for Voormezeele Enclosure No.3 not completed until 1917.