There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Private James Duffy 29437 of the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion (The Canadian Scottish Regiment) participated in Canada’s first major defensive engagement with the German Army. For Canada, the Second Battle of Ypres defined by lesser battles, The Battle of Kitchener’s Wood and the Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge. It was here, on 22-24 April 1915, Canada first earned it’s reputation as the elite Shock Troops of the Great War.
Companies of the 10th and 16th Canadian Infantry Battalions took on one of the most disciplined German Divisions in an old oak plantation in St. Julien. In the words of the Supreme Allied Commander Marshal Foch, the assault on Kitcheners’ Wood by the 10th and 16th Battalions was:
“The Greatest act of the war.“
Marshal Foch after the Great War
On 22 April 1915, a captured German soldier who understood English well, exclaimed, “You guys fight like hell.” The reputation endured right through the war when a German Colonel told Canadian POW Fred Hamilton, “I don’t care for the English, Scotch, French, Australians or Belgians, but damn you Canadians, you take no prisoners and you kill our wounded.”
James Duffy – Early Life
Jim Duffy, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Duffy, of 12, St. Mary Street, Edinburgh. Born 1 May 1890, in Sligo, Ireland. Duffy immigrated with his parents to Edinburgh, where he learned the trade of stonecutting and became a successful distance runner with the Edinburgh Harriers. Jimmy won the Scottish junior cross-country title in 1909, setting the Scottish national record for five miles (25 minutes 52 seconds) in 1910.
Duffy represented Scotland three times in the international cross-country championship. Then, in 1911, Jimmy emigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto, employed as a porter with T Eaton Company. He was also a member of the Central Young Men’s Christian Association.
Ward Marathon
Duffy placed second in the 1911 running of the Ward Marathon. Then, in the spring of 1912, wearing the colours of the Eaton’s Athletic Association, Jimmy placed second to Harry Jenson of New York in the Hamilton Spectator Marathon. Thus, with this strong finish, Jimmy named to the Stockholm-bound Olympic team.
Stockholm Olympics
Jimmy finished fifth in the marathon of the Stockholm Olympics, in 2 hours 42 minutes 18 seconds. In addition, his time remains the best placing by any Canadian in the Olympic marathon. Finally, upon his return to Toronto, Jimmy began his string of winning major races.
During the fall of 1912, Duffy took the Ward Marathon and set a record (1 hour 46 minutes 15 seconds), a course that would stand for 46 years.
Boston Marathon
James Duffy stayed on in Hamilton to train under Tommy Thompson of the Ramblers Bicycle Club. Then, in 1913 Jimmy won the Yonkers Marathon in New York and the Herald marathon again. Soon, in 1914, Duffy won the Boston marathon after a tense tactical duel with Montrealer Édouard Fabre. Duffy pulled away in the last mile, for a 15-second victory in 2 hours 25 minutes 1 second. In addition, the Boston Post proclaimed Duffy “the king of marathoners.”
Following the Boston Marathon, Duffy turned professional. Tom Longboat’s dramatic duels with Pietri, Alfred Shrubb, and others just a few years earlier, brought the height of marathoning to a close. Afterwards, Duffy only managed a few exhibitions at country fairs.
James Duffy – Enlistment
Private James Duffy 29437 enlisted 21 September 1914 with the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion at Valcartier, Quebec. He stood 5′ 8″ tall, 160 pounds, with dark complexion, hazel eyes, and dark brown hair. In addition, Jimmy had a burn-scar inside left-elbow. Finally, he was Roman Catholic, and declared himself a Stone Cutter by trade.
The Canadian Scottish Regiment
The 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish Regiment) organized in Valcartier Camp in September 1914, composed of recruits from Victoria, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Hamilton. Commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel R G E Leckie. Embarked Quebec 30 September 1914 aboard SS ANDANIA, and later disembarked England 14 October 1914 with a strength of 47 officers, 1111 other ranks.
Jimmy admitted to No. 1 Canadian General Hospital in England on 7 January 1915 – Influenza, and later discharged 19 January 1915. Shortly thereafter, Private James Duffy disembarked in France on 7 February 1915, with the 16th Battalion, 1st Canadian Division, 3rd Infantry Brigade.
Battle of Neuve Chapelle
Jimmy’s first experience in the trenches occurred during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle at dawn on 9 March 1915. Little more than a fortnight later, the 16th Battalion left the area for Estaires on the night of 27/28 March. The first battlefield casualties of the 16th Battalion lay in the beautiful cemetery of Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix.
The Great War as I Saw It – Canon Frederick George Scott, C.M.G., D.S.O.
“We passed through Weiltje where all was stir and commotion, and the dressing stations were already full, and then we deployed into the fields on a rise in the ground near St. Julien. By this time, our men became aware of the gas, because, although the German attack had been made a good many hours before, the poisonous fumes still clung about the fields and made us cough. Our men halted along the field and sat down waiting for orders.“
Canon Frederick George Scott – The Great War as I Saw It
“The crack of thousands of rifles and the savage roar of artillery incessant, and the German flare-lights round the salient appeared to encircle us. There a hurried consultation of officers and then the orders given to the different companies. An officer killed that night came down and told us that the Germans were in the wood which we could see before us at some distance in the moonlight, and that a house from which we saw gleams of light was held by German machine guns.“
The Great War as I Saw It
10th Canadian Infantry Battalion
The men told that they had to take the wood at the point of the bayonet and were not to fire, as the 10th Battalion would be in front of them. I passed down the line and told them that they had a chance to do a bigger thing for Canada that night than had ever been done before. “It’s a great day for Canada, boys.” I said. The words afterwards became a watchword, for the men said that whenever I told them that, it meant that half of them were going to be killed.
The battalion rose and fixed bayonets and stood ready for the command to charge. It was a thrilling moment, for we were in the midst of one of the decisive battles of the war. A shrapnel burst just as the men moved off and a man dropped in the rear rank. I went over to him and found he was bleeding in the neck. Bound him up and then taking his kit, which he was loath to lose, was helping him to walk towards the dressing station when I saw what I thought were sandbags in the moonlight. I called out, “Is anybody there?” A voice replied, “Yes, Sir, there is a dying man here.”
The Great War as I Saw It
Private James Duffy Wounded
I went over and there I found two stretcher-bearers beside a young fellow called Duffy, who was unconscious. He had been struck by a piece of shrapnel in the head and his brain was protruding. Duffy was a well-known athlete and had won the Marathon race. We tried to lift him, but with his equipment on he was too heavy, so I sent off the wounded man to Wieltje with one of the stretcher-bearers who was to return with a bearer party. The other one and I watched by Duffy.
It was an awful and wonderful time. Our field batteries never slackened their fire and the wood echoed back the crackling sound of the guns. The flare lights all round gave a lurid background to the scene. Then, at the foot of the long slope, down which the brave lads had gone to the attack, I saw the black outline of the trees. Over all fell the soft light of the moon. A great storm of emotion swept through me and I prayed for our men in their awful charge, for I knew that the Angel of Death was passing down our lines that night.
The Great War as I Saw It
James Duffy – Circumstances of Death Register
When the bearer party arrived, we lifted Duffy on to the stretcher, and the men handed me their rifles and we moved off. I hung the rifles on my shoulder, and I thought if one of them goes off and blows my brains out, there will be a little paragraph in the Canadian papers, “Canon Scott accidentally killed by the discharge of a rifle,” and my friends will say, “What a fool he was to fuss about rifles, why didn’t he stick to his own job?” However, they were Ross rifles and had probably jammed.
The Great War as I Saw It
Wieltje
Many wounded carried or making their way towards Wieltje. The road was under shell fire all the way. When we got to the dressing station which was a small red-brick estaminet, we were confronted by a horrible sight. On the pavement before it, rows and rows of stretcher cases, and inside the place, which was dimly lighted by candles and lamps, I found the doctor and his staff working away like Trojans. The operating room was a veritable shambles. The doctor had his shirt sleeves rolled up and his hands and arms covered with blood.
My billet in Vlamertinghe was in a neat little cottage owned by an old maid, who took great pride in making everything shine. The paymaster of one of our battalions and I had a cheerful home there when the poor old lady fled. Her home however did not long survive her absence, for, some days after she left, it was levelled by a shell. The church too, struck and ruined. Beside it is the military cemetery within which lie the mortal remains of many gallant men, amongst them the two Grenfells, one of whom got the V.C. There I buried poor Duffy and many more. The other chaplains laid to rest men under their care.
The Great War as I Saw It
Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery
Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery located 5 Km west of Ieper town centre, on the Hospitaalstraat, a road leading from the Poperingseweg. Vlamertinge is the modern spelling of Vlamertinghe. Firstly, on reaching the village of Vlamertinge the cemetery is located on the Hospitaalstraat, which is the second right turning after the village church. Finally, the cemetery lies 50 metres along the Hospitaalstraat on the right hand side of the road.
23 April 2015 – My Story
CEFRG visited James Duffy’s grave at Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery in the early morning of 23 April 2015 (where I took this photo after placing a flag, poppy and pin at his grave). Then, I happened to bump into the relatives of Jim Duffy from the UK at the next cemetery I visit, Poperinghe New Military Cemetery.
Visiting Private James Duffy’s grave because he was a member of the 16th Battalion during The Second Battles of Ypres. Not by coincidence, I visited his grave on the 100th anniversary of his death, 23 April 1915.
Poperinghe New Military Cemetery
Back at Poperinghe, I started a conversation with Jimmy’s family. Soon, they mention they are here to see their relative Private James Duffy at their next destination (Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery).
Wow! I am floored by this coincidence, and tell them I just came from his grave twenty minutes ago. “You will see I just placed a flag and poppy at his grave,” I said.
The family start to talk about his life, saying he won the Boston Marathon in 1914. I ask if he was also an Olympic athlete, because I had also visited Alexander Decoteau‘s grave at Passchendaele New British Cemetery two days previosuly.
Menin Gate Ceremony
Back to the story. Remember, this is 23 April 2015, the day after the first Gas Attack of the Great War. I am on my way to the Menin Gate Ceremony later that night.
As you may know, every night at the Menin Gate ceremony during the centenary, a soldier randomly chosen. They talk about him for about five minutes at the beginning of the ceremony – the soldier’s life before entering the war and his service during the war. Keep in mind, when you had over 5,000,000 Allied soldiers killed in the Great War, they certainly have a lot of soldiers to choose from.
Odds
You guessed it, unbelievably, the Last Post Association chose Private James Duffy that very night! Realizing afterwards, the family are honoured guests at the ceremony, and they had neglected to mention to me what may transpire.
They go on to mention Jimmy in many marathons, winning nine consecutive when he won the Boston Marathon in 1914, and that he was an Olympic athlete in the 1912 games in Stockholm!
I still can’t believe these extraordinary coincidences concerning Private James Duffy. Imagine the odds of this happening! Unfortunately, Mr. Spock is no longer with us, and we will never know this astronomical number.
Kitchener’s Wood Memorial Celebrations
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