Martin Van Buren Johnson
Martin Van Buren Johnson was born 13 November 1890, the youngest of 5 children of Martin and Elizabeth Johnson. When Elizabeth was just 3 months pregnant with Martin, her husband passed away of tuberculosis at 43 years old. She would remarry with Edward Kelly and is noted as Martin’s next of kin in his attestation papers.
On 11 April 1916 Martin enlisted at the Toronto Recruiting Depot, and was assigned to the 208th Battalion, known as the Irish Canadian Battalion. He steadily moved up the ranks from Private to Acting Sgt by 26 October 1917, and was eventually transferred to the 102nd Battalion (2nd Eastern Ontario Regiment) where he requested to revert to the rank of Private before being shipped to France in February 1918.
The 102nd Battalion was moving through the Oppy Sector near Bailleul, France, which had been the site of the Capture of Oppy Wood the previous Spring. Martin was part of a raid on the German trenches that took place on the night of 22/23 July 1918, when he was badly wounded by an enemy shell. He was brought back to the Regimental Aid Post, and from there evacuated to an advanced dressing station where he died of his wounds around 3am on 23 July 1918. The 102nd Battalion war diary makes a brief reference to this casualty:
00 109 for raid issued, this was scheduled for midnight 22nd/23rd. Casualty: 1 OR who later died.
Martin Johnson is buried in Anzin-St Aubin British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. He was 27 years old.
