Albert Metherell Brimmell
Albert Metherell Brimmell was born 28 May 1894 in Lindsay ON, and was the youngest of 7 children by John and Charlotte Brimmell of Lindsay ON. He was known to his family and friends as Bert. In October 1915, he married Pearl Staples of Toronto ON. While a civilian, he was listed as a bookkeeper by trade, and had worked for Flavelles Coal Office in Lindsay ON.
He enlisted on 22 November 1915 with the 3rd Division Canadian Cycling Corps of Cyclists, and found himself on the way to England in in the spring of 1916. Albert served with the Canadian Cycling Corp from April 1916 until 20 August 1917, when he was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps as an aerial gunner, flying in the RAF R.E. 8 bomber.
His last letter home to his brother Harry was written 4 days before he was killed in action, just two weeks after having been attached to the RAF, and described how excited he seemed to be for this new adventure:
"The life is certainly very interesting and exciting, and I feel that I am now taking a more active part in winning the war than I did with the Canadian Corps Cyclists. I fired my machine gun at a German plane one day, up about 4000 feet, and had the pleasure of pulling levers to drop bombs on the Huns lines the next day."
On 4 September 1917, Albert was part of A Flight, No. 9 Squadron, flying on a mission with his pilot, Capt Barker, when they were overwhelmed by German fighters behind German lines. The circumstances of the battle and the duo being brought down are not clearly known, but several weeks after they went missing, a German aviator dropped a message onto the Canadian lines stating that Albert had died along with a list of other names.
Albert Brimmell’s name is on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, which honours all Canadians who served during the First World War and bears the names of those who died in France with no known grave. He was 23 years old.
