Private Oliver Garfield Swire DCM, MM & Bar, the second-highest medalled (posthumous) Canadian Private of the Great War, second only to Private Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney VC, DCM, MM.
Oliver part of a large extended Swire family born and living in the 1890’s in Uxbridge. His father James Garrett Swire and his brother Phillip Albert Swire both lived in Uxbridge and later moved to Laird, Algoma. By 1915 Oliver and cousin William James Swire in Winnipeg and both enlisted into the 44th (Manitoba) Bn. within a few weeks of each other.
Swire Family
Uncle Phillip Albert Swire 1099456 served with the 10th Canadian Railway Troops in France. Cousin William James Swire 829433 also served with the 44th Bn. and wounded at Vimy Ridge in 1917. Cousin Ernest Roy Swire 1003883 served with the 1st Bn Canadian Machine Gun Corps. and wounded at St Olle in 1918.
1915/1916
Private Oliver Garfield Swire 829340 enlisted at Winnipeg on 4 December 1915. The 144th Overseas Battalion left Halifax on 18 September 1916, arriving in Liverpool on 25 September 1916.
1917
On 26 February 1917, Private O G Swire transferred to 44th Bn and proceeded to France. He caught up with the 44th on 16 March 1917 in the Souchez Sector front line. First tour of trenches 19-26 March 1917. Five days out of the line, the Quartermaster stores at Bouvigny heavily shelled. Armourer Quartermaster Sergeant Jones 622041, LCpl Walsh and three Other Ranks killed. All buried at VILLERS STATION CEMETERY, VILLERS-AU-BOIS.
Vimy Ridge
The 44th Bn assaulted Hill 145 on the second day of the battle. Casualties heavy, with 74 men killed (28 killed on 10 April 1917), including Sergeant George Elrick Rainy MM & Bar (CANADIAN CEMETERY NO.2, NEUVILLE-ST. VAAST).
Military Medal
Private Oliver Garfield Swire awarded the Military Medal in July 1917 when wounded in combat during actions on 11 May 1917. Wounded GSW Head and Face. In this action the Germans had used the Flamenwerfer (Flamethrower) to attack the 44th Battalion.
Swire admitted to No. 11 Canadian Field Ambulance and onto No 22 Casualty Clearing Station at Bruay. Admitted to hospital, and finally rejoined the 44th Bn at Chateau de la Haie.
MM & Bar
Private Oliver Garfield Swire MM awarded a bar to his Military Medal at Passchendaele on 16 November 1917. The citation for the bar states that on the 23 August 1917 in an attack on Green Crassier, as a Company runner took messages through intense fire at high risk to himself.
Hospitalized
Admitted to No. 30 General Hospital (VDG) on 27 November 1917 and treated for 43 days until 11 January 1918. Stoppage of pay. Oddly, Awarded a Good Conduct Badge by the O/C of the 44th Bn on 4 December 1917 in the Field, although a patient at this time.
The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) boasted one of the highest rates of venereal disease infection among the Allies. Infection rate already at 22.2% during the winter of 1914-15 on Salisbury Plain, reaching 28.7% during the war. Dr. Gordon Bates, the medical officer in charge of the venereal ward at the Military Base Hospital in Toronto, wrote about 1,500 soldiers admitted each year to his hospital alone. The problem of venereal disease not limited to soldiers overseas. Many volunteers had contracted their infections on the home front.
Dick Parade
Patients often hid their symptoms to avoid punishment, leading to more dangerous, long-term infections, particularly early in the war. Regular, mandatory medical inspections of soldiers’ genitals, ‘Dick Parades’, conducted to identify and treat infection early. Admitted patients not allowed to have newspapers, or visitors, and not permitted outside of the venereal ward.
Infected soldiers not punished, though many would find themselves temporarily sent to an entrenching battalion upon return to their unit. Officer’s not immune to the disease, and often found their careers limited afterwards. Hon Lt William Rider Rider, the third official CWRO photographer, surely would have been promoted to Hon Captain for his substantial and dangerous work, had it not been for his indiscretion.
1918
On 14 January 1918, Swire admitted to No 51 General Hospital, Etaples and continued treatment for VDG. Stoppage of pay (18 days) while hospitalized. Discharged to duty on 31 January 1918, and rejoined unit in the Lens Sector, Rollencourt on 10 February 1918.
Swire killed 29 September 1918 at Sally-lez-Cambrai as his battalion fiercely defended its position. For his bravery in this battle awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal – an award rarely given to a Private. Only fifty such ranks would merit the award posthumously.
Distinguished Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) a prestigious British military decoration, established in 1854, exclusively for other ranks (warrant officers, non-commissioned officers, and enlisted men) of the Army for gallantry in the field. The second highest award for bravery, behind only the Victoria Cross.
Quarry Wood Cemetery, Sains-lès-Marquion
The cemetery made by the 102nd Canadian Battalion in October 1918. Over 250, Great War casualties commemorated in this site.
Of these casualties, a small number unidentified, and a special memorial erected to one Canadian Officer believed to be buried among them.
Low hanging fruit
Many unknown casualties in CWGC cemeteries identified by the ‘low hanging fruit’ method. This means of identification used by visitors to the cemeteries since their creation. Sometimes, only a rank, unit, or date-of-death provides a positive identification for a previously unknown soldier. The grave of Captain Richard Steacie likely identified by a Belgian national in the 1930’s. This unknown man submitted many reports to the IWGC utilizing the low hanging fruit method. Few, if any reports, acted upon at the time.
Clearly, and succinctly identified by former Commonwealth War Graves Chief Records Officer Norm Christie in his book Sacred Places Volume 1 (2011). This grave initially mentioned by Christie in his book King and Empire (1999).
“The only Captain of the 14th missing in the battle is Richard Steacie, killed at St.Julien on April 22nd, 1915. This is certainly Steacie’s grave (IXL.E.12).”
Mr Christie credited with dozens of identifications during his period with the CWGC, including the grave of Sir Rudyard Kipling’s son. Though Christie continued to work on cases after leaving the CWGC, at some point he stopped submitting formal reports. In January 2009, Captain Grant Furholter contacted Directorate of History and Heritage (DHH) and in April 2009 a report submitted to the CWGC. By February 2010, the report under investigation. In April 2013, CWGC (Americas) agrees the grave that of Captain Steacie, and in June the marked changed.
GRRF of Quarry Wood Cemetery
Page 1 of the Graves Registration Repport Form at Quarry Wood Cemetery, Sains-lès-Marquion reveals a Private of the 47th, killed-in-action on 27 September 1918. For reasons unknown, his rank and date of death not inscribed. This UCS buried beside his Sergeant, Archie Blackwood Russell, who died on the same day.
CWGC records three possibilities. Unfortunately, none of these men have a recorded burial, and this grave shall remain an Unknown Canadian Soldier of the 47th Canadian Infantry Battalion.
- Pvt Joseph Douglas
- Private Norman Jones
- Pvt John Maitland
Douglas instantly killed by an enemy machine gun bullet to the head, the same for Maitland at Bourlon Wood. Jones lost in the attack on Rallencourt.
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