Cenotaph Stories

Pte

59718

21st Battn.

8 April, 1916
Age 27

RidgeWood Military Cemetery, Belgium - I Q 2

First World War Book of Remembrance - Page 125

Ivan Elmer McGill was born 1 April 1890 in Mount Horeb, On. He was the youngest of two boys born to Samuel and Martha Ann McGill. His mother passed away of a stroke in 1918, and as a result his father moved to Kalama, Washington shortly after to live with his son Robert and his family.

The Lindsay Post noted that Ivan had enlisted with the 45th Regiment and was a clerk in the Post Office before war broke out. When recruits were called upon for overseas service, Ivan immediately stepped forward to volunteer. He enlisted on 24 Feb 1915 in Lindsay with the 21st Battalion, whom he stayed attached to for his entire war service.

The Battle of St Eloi Craters could only be described as a disaster for Canada and its allies. The fields near the Belgian village of St Eloi, located 5 kms south of Ypres, had been destroyed by tunnels dug for explosives used in trench warfare. The fields were pockmarked with craters filled with deep, sucking mud and water. Starting on 27 March 1916, the British troops started the attack, with the plan being for the Canadians to relieve them. For a week the British fought hand to hand, crater to crater, against the German forces, advancing until 3 April 1916 when the Canadians relieved them. The 2nd Canadian Pioneer Battalion tried to improve the trenches by draining water from them, all while the trenches were under constant bombardment. With the constant shelling, new craters were replacing old craters, giving the Canadians only a vague idea of where they were or where the Germans were.

Canadian Private Donald Fraser, a 34-year-old bank clerk from Calgary, described the scene: “When day broke, the sights that met our gaze were so horrible and ghastly that they beggar description. Heads, arms and legs were protruding from the mud at every yard and dear knows how many bodies the earth swallowed. Thirty corpses were at least showing in the crater and beneath its clayey waters other victims must be lying killed and drowned. A young, tall, slim English lieutenant lay stretched in death with a pleasant, peaceful look on his boyish face. Some mother’s son, gone to glory.

Over the next several days, through incessant rain and mounting confusion about their position, the Canadians were pushed back further and further. Communications were a shambles, and “even the pigeons used to carry messages were dead”. More than 1370 Canadians were killed or wounded during these several days, including Ivan who was listed as having been killed instantly by a shell blast in the trenches on 8 April 1916.

Ivan Elmer McGill is buried at Ridge Wood Military Cemetery, Belgium. He was 27 years old.

Attestation and other Documents (pdf, 34 pages - 16MB)