Rank
L/Cpl
Service No.
724562
Unit
44th Btn.
Died
Killed whilst POW at Limburg -
9 September, 1917
Age 40
Age 40
Buried
Tournai Communal Cemetery, Allied Extension, Belgium - I E 8
Remembrance:
First World War Book of Remembrance - Page 282
Additional Info
Joseph Patrick McGann was born in Downeyville ON on 12 August 1887 to John and Maryann McGann, the 4th of 6 children. At some point after 1890, the family moved to Kinmount and settled on a farm in Galway Township. On 19 May 1913, Joseph married Agnes Brison and the couple resided at 49 Ridout Street in Lindsay prior to the outbreak of the war.
Like many men from the Kinmount area, Joseph was listed as a lumberman by trade. After enlisting with the 109th Battalion in Lindsay on 21 October 1915, Joseph was transferred to the 44th Battalion where he seems to have served with some distinction. After being wounded in the late stages of the Battle of the Somme on 21 November 1916, Joseph was promoted to Lance Corporal a few months after returning to duty with his battalion. Just one month later, he was reported missing on 23 August 1917 near Lens.
To complete the Allied forces encirclement of Lens, Brigadier General Edward Hilliam of the 10th Brigade proposed capturing the position just south east of Lens known as Green Crassier. His idea was that the 44th Battalion would be used to drive a corridor through the German lines, capture the hill, and force the Germans to evacuate Lens. This plan was described as “a costly and unprofitable task” by the Canadian Official History, because it was based on the erroneous assumption that Fosse St Louis, a coal mine pit head near Green Crassier, had been abandoned by the Germans. It had not. Throughout the area, the German forces occupied mine tunnels allowing them to protect their positions while the Canadian soldiers were exposed on the hill during the attack. By 3pm on 23 August 1917, the attack was in complete disarray, with communications lost between companies, forces stranded on top of Green Crassier, and those left on the slopes being easily mowed down by constant machine gun fire. The Germans would retain possession of this area until late in the war when the final retreat was on. In addition to 41 killed and 115 wounded, there were 118 soldiers listed missing that day, including 70 taken prisoner on Green Crassier and 17 more at Fosse St Louis. A few weeks later, information was obtained that Joseph was a prisoner of war at the Limburg Lahn POW camp, 80 kms northwest of Frankfurt, Germany.
On 9 September 1917, it was determined that Joseph McGann had died of his wounds while a prisoner of war. His remains were recovered and he was buried at Tournai Communal Cemetery, Belgium. He was 30 years old.
Attestation and other Documents (pdf, 48 pages - 20MB)
