BRANTFORD BOYS, DEAD AND WOUNDED; YOUNGEST CASUALTY PASSED UP A CHANCE TO GO HOME
By Vincent Ball
Brantford Expositor
November 8, 2008 Saturday
Ontario
Private Sam Chickegian was the youngest Brantford man to die fighting
for Canada in the First World War.
He was the 15-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. John Chickegian, an Armenian
couple who had come to Canada from their homeland in 1907. They moved
to Alfred Street, Brantford from St. Catharines and Sam ran away from
home to enlist with the Canadian Expeditionary Force overseas.
He was in France when it was learned that he was just 15 and he was
given the opportunity to return home.
In a letter to his parents Sam told them he was in the best of health.
"The officer called me up and asked me about the letter you wrote
him. He asked me if I wanted to go back, but I said ‘No.’ I know you
must be worried mother, but there is no use trying to get me to quit
when I’ve come so far. I am going to do my share."
His war experience is just one of many fascinating stories of the
First World War that either originated in Brantford or was somehow
connected to the city.
The story of the "the Crucified Canadian’ also has a Brantford
connection, however slight.
DISAGREEMENT
The alleged incident, which remains a subject of disagreement today,
was said to have occurred during the second battle of Ypres when a
Canadian soldier, thought to be about 24 years of age, was pinned to
a barn door by bayonets.
One was through his left shoulder and another through his right
shoulder. Two other bayonets were alleged to have been thrust through
his legs and directly through the lower parts of his body.
A Canadian soldier who allegedly pulled him down suggested the
crucified soldier appeared to be a sergeant from the medical service
and was possibly from Brantford. At some point, the victim was
identified as Sgt. Thomas Elliott, of Brantford.
Elliott himself put an end to that story with a letter he wrote to
the Rev. J. W. Gordon, pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
in Brantford.
The letter, dated Oct. 16, 1915, says, "I have no doubt your would
read of my supposed death in the Courier some time ago. Well really,
Mr. Gordon, I read it myself and I was surprised to know that I had
been so much in the limelight.
"I quite understand that similar atrocities have been committed
by those who are against us, but if I can do anything to avoid it,
they are not going to nail me up to a door. I mean to avoid such an
uncomfortable experience if I can….."
The Germans, at the time, protested that the alleged incident never
happened. Nonetheless it was used as propaganda by the Allies afterward
to boost support for the Allied effort.
Private Kenneth Lawrence was an American by birth but when the First
World War broke out he was living at 71 Gilkison St. in Brantford.
He was fighting in France and was one of the last Canadian soldiers
to be wounded during the First World War. He was wounded at about
10:45 a. m. on Nov. 11, 1918 – 15 minutes before the Armistice,
which had been signed at 5 a. m. that same day, came into effect.
Lawrence recovered from his wounds and survived the war. He returned
to Brantford and married Eva Frey in the fall of 1921. Lawrence was a
watchmaker and the couple moved with a child named Earnest to Buffalo,
New York, in 1924.