The Victoria Rifles of Canada
Private Oney (Owen) O’Keefe born on 15 April 1889, a Driver by trade. Next of kin his sister Miss Ellen O’Keefe of 43 Benoit Street, Montreal (later 39 St. George Street, and later 54 Carmichael Street, Montreal). Son of Irish parents James O’Keefe and Ellen Cronin.
Attestation
Private Oney O’Keefe 65746 attested 10 November 1914 in Montreal, Quebec with ‘B’ Company, 24th Battalion (Victoria Rifles), Medical Officer Captain H.G. Muckleton. At this time, 24 years, 7 months of age, standing 5′ 6″ tall, with fair complexion, brown eyes, and black hair, small scar left groin. He was Roman Catholic, and sent home $15 of his monthly pay to his sister.
24th Battalion, The Victoria Rifles of Canada
The 24th Battalion organized in October 1914 under the Command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Alexander Gunn and later mobilized at Montreal, and recruited in Montreal. Embarked from Montreal 11 May 1915 aboard CAMERONIA, and later disembarked in England on 20 May 1915, with a strength of: 42 officers, 1089 other ranks. Arrived in France 15 September 1915 with the 2nd Canadian Division, 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade, and later reinforced by 23rd Canadian Reserve Battalion. Finally, returned to England 8 April 1919, and disembarked in Canada 16 May 1919. Furthermore, demobilized 17 May 1919, and disbanded by General Order 149 of 15 September 1920, Brass band: “The Victoria Rifles March”. In addition, Colours deposited in Church of St James the Apostle, Montreal, in 1919., and published a photographic record, 1914 – 1915. Perpetuated by The Victoria Rifles of Canada.
Montreal High School
Recruiting at the time presented little difficulty, and soon to the old Montreal High School, on Peel Street, taken over as a barracks, there flowed a steady stream of men, from all walks in life, but chosen for a high standard of physique and intelligence. From the beginning, Lieutenant-Colonel John Alexander Gunn instructed his recruiting staff and Medical Officer to weed out ruthlessly applicants unable to meet, physically and mentally, the high standard desired.
Within a week, known that Major Claude Hardinge Hill, of the Royal Canadian Regiment, to serve as Second-in-Command; Captain Ronald Okeden Alexander, of the same regiment, as Adjutant; and the Reverend Allan Pearson Shatford, Rector of the Church of St. James the Apostle, as Chaplain, with the rank of Honourary. Captain. Twenty-four additional officers appointed, though some only provisionally, by October 31st.
Lieutenant Charles Frederick Ritchie, Assistant Adjutant, and Battalion Sergt-Major Ernest George Lidstone came from the Victoria Rifles, Hon Lt and Quartermaster H D Campbell from the Royal Canadian Regiment; and Lt Charles G Greenshields, taken on the strength at a later date, joined after service in France as a private in the French Foreign Legion. Nineteen of the officers who sailed eventually with the unit from Montreal enrolled from the Victoria Rifles.
American Recruits
On one occasion, a party of American soldiers in uniform appeared at the Peel Street Barracks. Presenting certificates of honourable discharge from the forces of the United States, they asked to enlist. When told that the uniform they wore prevented such action, they disappeared. Returning an hour later in ill-fitting clothes, purchased in a second-hand shop on Craig Street. No embarrassing questions asked of the oddly attired civilians and all, taking the service oath of loyalty to the King, enrolled in the ranks of the Battalion.
November 12th was the 100th day of the war; and on the 13th announced that casualties in the British Army had reached a total of 57,000. On the following day, the cables brought news that Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar, V.C., had died while visiting troops of the Indian Army in France. Somehow, the two announcements deepened the im pression of bitter war ahead. Lord Roberts not killed by enemy action, nevertheless his passing stimulated recruiting and affected the Nation profoundly. He, almost alone for a time, had believed unwaveringly that Germany would one day make war on the British Empire; and he died with German guns sounding from the dis tance in his ears.
Champ-de-Mars
A few weeks after the news of Lord Roberts’s death received, the 24th Battalion paraded on the Champ de Mars for inspection by the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence, Major-General the Honourable Sam Hughes. And again, on December 7th, before the Prime Minister of the Dominion, the Right Honourable Sir Robert Borden.
On 30 December 1914, Private Oney O’Keefe forfeits one days pay for being AWOL, 29 December 1914.
On February 10, 1915, Major-General the Honourable Sam Hughes dined in the Officers’ Mess; and on the 13th the unit inspected on Fletcher’s Field by Major-General Francois Louis Lessard.
Early in March the Battalion called upon to provide escort and a firing party for the body of Private Frank Haynes 65436, who had died of illness.
England
Private Oney O’Keefe sailed from Montreal per SS CAMERONIA with is unit on 11 May 1915. Oney forfeits two days pay, AWOL, West Sandling, 7 August 1915, and later again, forfeits two days pay, AWOL, West Sandling, 8 September 1915.
France
The 24th Battalion with Private Oney O’Keefe embarked for France from Folkestone, 15 September 1915, and later, disembarked at Boulogne-sur-Mer on 16 September 1915. After sailing from Folkestone at approximately 10 o’clock on the night of September 15, 1915, the S.S. QUEEN proceeded directly across the Channel to Boulogne. No incident marked the journey. Those officers and other ranks of the 24th Battalion whose duties permitted an appearance on deck enjoyed the soft breezes of the late summer night and remarked upon the unusual brilliance of the stars. Disembarking soon after the ship docked in Boulogne, the Battalion marched uphill to Osterhove Rest Camp, where billets had been provided.
Loaded down with equipment, weighing 60 lbs. or more apiece, the men found that the long hill to the camp tested their marching ability severely. But, stimulated by realization that French soil lay beneath their feet at last, few allowed the fatigue they felt to appear. After a stay of less than twenty-four hours in the rest camp, marked only by the mounting of guards and routine, the Battalion paraded at 12.10 a.m. on September 17th, marched to Pont au Briques railway station, and there entrained for the front. Most of the men found accommodation in the famous “40 hommes 8 chevaux” French box-cars; others rode in open trucks with the Battalion Transport.
Envied at first, the men in the open cars were the objects of joyous derision. Then, as the train puffed through a long series of tunnels, dense smoke half choked and blinded them. In the box-cars, few men of the Battalion were able to sleep that night. Nor was rest awaiting them when the train reached St. Omer at 7 o’clock in the morning.
Hazebrouck
Instead, the unit and Private Oney O’Keefe ordered to march to Hazebrouck forthwith. Proceeding, in accordance with these orders, the Battalion marched a few miles, and halted for breakfast. Resumed the march, halted for a mid-day meal, then marched the remainder of the 15-mile way. Realizing that the hard and unfamiliar cobbles of the French high way inflicted appreciable hardship upon men carrying a heavy load under a hot sun, Lieut-Col Gunn ordered the bandsmen to unload their instruments from the Trans port wagons and play the Battalion over the last few miles of the road. Accordingly, to the tune of The Victoria Rifles March, the men swung in to Hazebrouck.
While the British First Army engaged to the south in the Battle of Loos, the 24th Battalion, Victoria Rifles of Canada, carrying out, in the Mont Kemmel Sector, its first series of trench tours in the front line.
Locre
Lieut.-Col. Gunn’s order for the move instructed “B” Coy., under Major R. O. Alexander, “C” Coy., under Major Eric Ogilvie McMurtry, “D” Coy., under Major Jhn Alexander Ross, Battalion Headquarters, the Bombers, and Transport to parade for the 4-mile march opposite Locre church at 5.50 p.m. A grim touch was provided as the troops fell in, by the band of another unit playing the Dead March at a military funeral in the churchyard nearby. The significance of the omen not lost by the men of the 24th. But, as they received the order to march, the funeral ended and the bandsmen played them away to the stirring strains of The Victoria Rifles March.
Rain was falling when the Battalion reached the front line. Nevertheless, Lieut-Col Gunn established his Head quarters in Rossignol Estaminet according to schedule, and at 9 p.m. the companies reported relief of the 25th Battalion complete in trenches G.4 to J.10 on the western slopes of Wytschaete hill. In view of the fact the 24th Battalion companies not given a tour in the line with experienced battalions, as customary, the manner in which the relief carried out reflected great credit on the two battalions concerned.
No Man’s Land
As a whole, the Battalion’s first night in the trenches passed without noteworthy incident. Officers and men did not settle down with the promptness that distinguishes the veteran Indeed, minor alarms as sentries, peering into the night, saw, or thought they saw, something moving in No Man’s Land. Flares rose frequently. German machine-guns active. Rifle fire occasionally crackled from the enemy parapet as well as from that of the 24th. But, day dawned without casualties in the Battalion suffered. For a time on September 29th, the good fortune continued. Snipers active. The men of the 24th retaliated by smashing a number of enemy trench periscopes and by dispersing a German working party sighted.
The roll of casualties thus begun mounted steadily in the days that followed. Private Walter Arthur Ward 66017 of “B” Coy. shot through the heart while on a working party; Private Edwin Alfred Clift 65184 struck and died a quarter hour later; and Private Charles William Price 65799 of “C” Coy. also killed. A number of others wounded, most of the casualties occurring on October 1st, when enemy artillery was unusually active. From letters and diaries written by officers and men of the 24th Battalion during this first tour of the unit in the line, it would seem that rats created a deep impression.
Trench rats abounded; rats, as a German soldier has observed, “with shocking, evil faces and long nude tails,” and the men of the 24th found no pleasure in their company. None complained, however, and officers, censoring letters, struck by the men’s determination to assure their families and friends that life in the trenches was far from disagreeable.
Grenade Practice
On the night of October 4th, after gaining invaluable experience from the 6-day tour in the front line, the 24th Battalion relieved by the 25th Battalion and marched back to Locre. Taking over Brigade Reserve billets, occupied until the night of October 10th. Though the Battalion as a whole in billets for six days, the time was by no means devoid of incident. During grenade practice on October 7th, Lieutenant V E Duclos and eight other ranks injured by the premature explosion of a bomb. Lt Duclos’ injury not severe, but several of the other ranks badly wounded.
More serious was the misadventure which befell a working party in J. 10 Trench on the afternoon of October 8th. This party, under Lieut. P. L. Hall, engaged in trench construction and suffered sharply from the be lated explosion of a “dud” shell. Private W. 0. Roberts struck in the stomach by a flying piece of shell; Private F. J. Smith’s leg torn from his body; and Sergeant G. G. R. Taylor received a shattering injury. All three died of their wounds, Private Roberts almost at once, Private Smith on the way back to hospital, and Sergt. Taylor not long thereafter.
Brigadier-General David Watson
A party engaged on similar work on another occasion also caught by enemy gunfire so severe that Brigadier-General Watson ordered the officer in command to abandon work and withdraw the party to safety. This done, but not before the German fire had inflicted sharp losses. Then, on the night of October 10th, the Battalion paraded at Locre church. And, for the second time marched to relieve the 25th Battalion in the front line. “A”, “C”, and “D” Companies taking over the actual front and “B” Coy occupying positions at Siege Farm. Rain fell heavily during the move. Passage through waist-deep mud in Via Gellia Communication Trench effected with great difficulty. But, this circumstance foreseen and delayed the relief no longer than expected.
First Officer Casualty
On taking over the front, the men of the 24th Battalion took over also the duty of keeping the Une in a reasonable state of repair. Enemy action hampered this work, but rain effected the most serious damage, parapets and trench walls collapsing repeatedly under the lashing water of the autumn storms. Life in flooded dugouts and in trenches deep with liquid mud was far from agree able, but the men faced the situation courageously and endured, without complaint, the added hardship pro vided at intervals by brisk German fire. As a result of enemy fire on October 11th, the Battalion suffered its first officer casualty through the wounding of Lieutenant Murdoch Laing.
Though the action “not very dangerous” when compared with the Battalion’s later experiences, not concluded without losses, Privates William Brown and Arthur Jones, of “A” Coy., killed and some 14 men wounded when retaliatory shelling struck the Canadian line. Other casualties suffered during the tour included Capt B H T MacKenzie, wounded on October 14th, and Private Edward James, of “C” Coy., killed while on duty in Trench J.4.
1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders
Reminder that other units had suffered in the area given to a party under Major C B Parr and Lieutenant H D Kingstone, which patrolled in No Man’s Land one morning when fog obscured all distant observation. Lying where he had fallen nearly a year before, the party found the body of a captain of the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders. In his pockets were a purse of sovereigns, and letters which, though faded, enabled the officers of the 24th to establish his identity and forward to his kin his property and the details of his death.
After six days in the line, the 24th Battalion relieved by the 25th Battalion on the night of October 16th and withdrew to Locre, where, on the following morning, Divine Service conducted by Hon Capt the Reverend A P Shatford, who, after a period of service elsewhere, had resumed duties as the Victoria Rifles’ Chaplain.
Private Sunta Gougersing (Gunga Singh)
From October 16th to 22nd, the Battalion remained in Locre. Furnishing parties for work in the forward area. Particularly in J10 Trench, where Private George Whiteford killed at 12.30 a.m. on October 20th. Private Sunta Gougersing (Gunga Singh) 65400, who stated in advance that he knew he must die that night, also killed in J10 Trench by a bullet which struck him in the stomach on the night of October 19th. By October 22nd, the first anniversary of the Battalion’s formation, the roll of the unit’s killed in France had reached a total of 12.
Snipers
Corporal Albert Metzger 65629 wounded by a sniper who fired from a tree in the Petit Bois on November 7th; and on the 8th Private Charles J Diver 65266, of No.5 Platoon, struck in the head and fatally injured. Private Oney O’Keefe commits an act to the prejudice in carelessly discharging his rifle, In the Field, later on 16 November 1915, and sentenced to 10 Days Field Punishment No. 1.
December 1, 1915, found the 24th Battalion, Victoria Rifles of Canada, carrying out a routine tour in the front line. Private Adrian Ste Marie 65867, of “A” Coy.’s Signal Section, killed in Trench H.2 on this date. And, Private James Syder 65955, of “B” Coy., a few days later. Meanwhile, on the night of December 3rd, Lieutenant Anthony Lyle S Mills and two other ranks carried out a patrol. They brought back valuable information regarding the enemy wire. Approaching close to the German line at one point, the party challenged and fired upon. But, hid until the alarm subsided. Then, after securing the information desired, moved back in safety to the Battalion lines.
Private Oney O’Keefe’s Final Tour
Returning to the front on December 12th. After a period in billets during which parties supplied constantly for work in the forward areas. The companies of the 24th Battalion, commanded as during previous tours by Majors Clayton Bowers Parr, R O Alexander, E O McMurtry, and J A Ross. They settled down for a six-day tour. Shelling, fairly heavy when the tour began, increased as the days passed. Adding inevitably to the Battalion’s roll of killed and wounded.
Snipers became troublesome too. And, Corporal J J Shannon, of the Machine-Gun Section, wounded on December 16th when on duty in Trench K.l. Captain J S Jenkins, the Battalion Medical Officer, dressed a gaping wound in the corporal’s neck. But, no human skill could avail and the wounded man died of the injury. Even more promptly fatal the wound received at 2.30 o’clock on the morning of December 17th. Private Oney O’Keefe, with a party under command of Lieutenant P L Hall, in No Man’s Land repairing the Battalion’s barbed wire. Just when work in front of Trench J.3 completed, fire opened on the party by the enemy. Private Oney O’Keefe fell with a bullet in the head on 18 December 1915.
Private Oney O’Keefe eligible for ’15 Star, Victory Medal, and British War Medal But, authorities unable to locate next of kin.
La Laiterie Military Cemetery
La Laiterie Military Cemetery is located 7 Km south of Ieper town centre on the Kemmelseweg (N331), connecting Ieper to Kemmel. From Ieper town centre the Kemmelseweg is reached via the Rijselsestraat. Through the Lille Gate (Rijselpoort) and straight on towards Armentieres (N336). 900 metres after the crossroads is the right hand turning onto the Kemmelseweg made prominent by a level crossing. The cemetery is located on the right hand side of the road, 5 km after joining the Kemmelseweg.
The cemetery, named from a dairy farm, begun in November 1914 and used until October 1918 by units holding this sector of the front. The different plots, to a great extent, treated as regimental burial grounds; the majority of the graves in Plots II, III and X, for instance, those of the 26th, 25th and 24th Canadian Infantry Battalions, respectively, and all but one of the graves in Plot VIII are those of the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers.
On 25 April 1918, the cemetery fell into German hands, during the Final German Spring Offensive, but retaken at the beginning of September. After the Armistice, graves brought into the cemetery from the battlefields north and north-east of Kemmel. 751 Commonwealth casualties of the Great War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 180 of the burials unidentified and special memorials commemorate two servicemen whose graves destroyed in later fighting. The cemetery designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Comments
One response to “Private Oney O’Keefe in the Great War”
Excellent article Ted…Gerry