Sergeant William H Braisby

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Mentioned in Despatches

William H Braisby born in Melton Mowbray, a town in Leicestershire, England on 16 March 1879. Previous service with 21st Regiment, Bucks Yeomanry, and Transvaal Police in South Africa. Father William Braisby in Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. A shoe finisher by trade.

Enlistment of Private William H Braisby

Private William H Braisby (Braisley) 53204 attested 22 October 1914 in Windsor, Ontario with the 18th Battalion, standing 5′ 8″ tall with fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair and bullet wound right thigh.

SS Grampian after hitting an iceberg on July 10 1919

In April 1915, assigns pay to his brother Fred Braisby of Georgetown, Ontario at the rate of $20.00 per month.

18th (Western Ontario) Battalion

Organized in October 1914 initially under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel E S Wigle. Mobilized at London, Ontario and also recruited in London, Windsor, Woodstock, Chatham, St Thomas, Strathroy, Stratford, Galt, Guelph, Walkerville and Goderich. Draft of 1 soldier and 20 other ranks sent to England 6 April 1915. Embarked from Halifax 18 April 1915 aboard GRAMPIAN, and later disembarked England 28 April 1915 with a strength of 36 officers, 1081 other ranks.

Cheerful though wounded. September, 1916. According to family sources, the wounded man is Private John Charles Morgan 53594 of the 18th Infantry Battalion. MIKAN No. 3395798

Disembarked in France 15 September 1915 with the 2nd Canadian Division, 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade and later reinforced by 4th Canadian Reserve Battalion.

England

William arrives in England aboard the S.S. Grampian on 29 April 1915.

Captain Robert Pearson, Y.M.C.A., umpiring a baseball game held at a Canadian sports meeting, 18th Battalion Sports Field, near Villers-au-Bois, 12 September 1917.

To be Corporal, 26 July 1915 at West Sandling. To be Lance Sergeant, 26 July 1915 at West Sandling.

Lance Sergeant William H Braisby proceeded overseas on 15 September 1915 from Folkestone.

Wounded

On 27 December 1915, Private Storing killed in action, with three men wounded. Corporal Braisby admitted to No 5 Canadian Field Ambulance, 1 January 1916, GSW right thigh. To No 8 CCS, No 6 Camp Depot, and finally returned to duty on 18 February 1916.

Grave of Major Gregory Vincent Nelson, 18th Can. Infantry Battalion. July, 1918 ECOIVRES MILITARY CEMETERY, MONT-ST. ELOI MIKAN No. 3403389

Corporal William H Braisby admitted to No 5 Canadian Field Ambulance on 18 March 1916, myalgia (GSW right leg). Finally discharged to duty on 25 March 1916.

An operation taking place in a Canadian Field Ambulance within an hour of man being wounded. October, 1916. MIKAN No. 3395819

Corporal William H Braisby employed with 2nd Canadian Division Convalescent Company at Westoutre from 1 April 1916.

Corporal William H Braisby admitted to No 5 Canadian Field Ambulance, infected right hand, later discharged to duty on 3 May 1916.

Second Wound Stripe

Corporal William H Braisby admitted to No 4 Canadian Field Ambulance on 27 April 1916, wound to wrist and hand, later discharged to duty on 3 May 1916.

Two comrades of the late L/Sergt. E.W. Sifton, V.C., 18th Battalion, visit his grave. February, 1918. This view shows two temporary crosses, with Sifton's grave being cared for by soldiers. Ellis W. Sifton, was acting as a Lance-Sergeant in the 18th Canadian Infantry Battalion on 9th April, 1917, on the first day of Vimy Ridge operations. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for single-handedly overwhelming a German Machine-Gun position that was holding up his company. He was killed moments later. — Two comrades of the late L/Sergt. E.W. Sifton, V.C., 18th Battalion, visit his grave. February, 1918. This view shows two temporary crosses, with Sifton’s grave being cared for by soldiers. Ellis W. Sifton, was acting as a Lance-Sergeant in the 18th Canadian Infantry Battalion on 9th April, 1917, on the first day of Vimy Ridge operations. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for single-handedly overwhelming a German Machine-Gun position that was holding up his company. He was killed moments later. MIKAN No. 3194451

Corporal William H Braisby promoted sergeant on 11 August 1916, as Sergeant T Rayward 53279 granted a commission.

Sergeant William H Braisby granted 10 days leave on 4 November 1916.

Mentioned in Despatches

Sgt William H Braisby Mentioned in Despatches of London Gazette No. 30107, 1 June 1917.

Sergeant William H Braisby attached to No 4 Field Company, Canadian Engineers, 28 July 1917. Ceases to be attached on return to 18th Battalion, 1 September 1917.

Engineers repairing bridge blown up by Germans. MIKAN No. 3405426

Oddly, Sergeant William H Braisby completes his military will on 20 September 1917. Perhaps not the first time, as William has already seen his share of action at the front.

Battle of Passchendaele

Sergeant William H Braisby killed in action, 9 November 1917.

The British offensive in Flanders began on 31 July 1917 but unceasing rain and shellfire reduced the battlefield to a vast bog of bodies, water-filled craters, and deep mud which ground the attack to a halt. After two months of frustration, Sir Douglas Haig, the commander-in-chief of the B.E.F., asked Sir Arthur Currie for his opinion.

Instantly killed by a high explosive shell at the action at Passchendaele. Buried at Plot V, Row K, Grave 9, at the Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery in Belgium. The only member of the 18th Battalion interred here, but he rests with 476 other soldiers.

Surviving original members of the 18th Battalion 4th Brigade, taken in Germany. 50% of these men have been wounded 3406059 a005983-v8

Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery

The “Oosttaverne Line” a German work running northward from the river Lys to the Comines Canal, passing just east of Oosttaverne. Captured on 7 June 1917, the first day of the Battle of Messines, the village and the wood taken by the 19th (Western) and 11th Divisions.

Chaplain 4th Class Clifford Hugh Reed MC buried in Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery

Two cemeteries, No.1 and No.2, then made by the IX Corps Burial Officer on the present site and used until September 1917. Contained in Plot I, II, and III of the present cemetery, completed after the Armistice when graves brought in from the surrounding battlefields (including many from Hill 60) and from smaller cemeteries. The cemetery contains 1,119 Great War burials, 783 of which unidentified. Scattered among these graves 117 from the Second World War, five of them unidentified.

Sergeant William H Braisby 15 April 2018 CEFRG

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Sergeant William H Braisby in the Great War

Mentioned in Despatches

Enlistment of Private William H Braisby

18th (Western Ontario) Battalion

England

Wounded

Second Wound Stripe

Mentioned in Despatches

Battle of Passchendaele

Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery

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