Thoughts were with Madawaska Valley resident, Joseph Baxter, and his family members at this year’s Remembrance Day ceremonies held Monday November 11 at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 406 in Barry’s Bay. Baxter, a WW2 veteran, will be 100 this year – as will the force that he served with, the British Air Command (now the Royal Canadian Air Force). To mark the centenary, a Chinook helicopter flypast from the 450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in the skies over Madawaska Valley followed the ceremony. Above: Attendees at the Barry’s Bay Legion listen while bugler plays The Last Post. (Photo Roger Prince)
When LtCol Matthew Baxter read aloud a letter written by his great-grandfather, Roland Ford, the Legion audience was able to imagine the effects of war on both those who serve and those who wait at home. The treasured family memento was received in 1917. Because their grandfather wrote it to announce his younger brother’s death while they were both serving at the Front, Joe’s daughters Mary, Rose and Catherine Baxter, have carefully preserved the letter.
Above images of the letter. (Photos Roger Prince) We have transcribed its contents below so you can more easily read Roland’s words.
June 4 – 17
Dear Mother, Father, Bro & Sisters
Received your letter of May 5 yesterday saying you had received a wire from Ottawa saying H. was killed. Dear Kid was killed on the ninth not the eighteenth. I wrote you a letter on the 15th telling you which you would get about the same time you wrote me this one. Oh how I wished I was out of it that week, it was the hardest thing to set my mind on work. I just went to pieces but we went out to [illegible] on the first of May and came back in yesterday (June so I am rested up, still my nerves are pretty shaky especially when I have to go on the buzzer four hours out of every twelve. Still I am not kicking. I intend to stick and do my bit, and to pay back a little debt to Fritzy!
The last I saw of poor Howard alive was Easter Monday morning, which was the big day when the Vimy Ridge battle started, the day we took Vimy Ridge. I went over with B. Company as a Signaller and was about 50 feet down the line from Howard when we started and it seemed like all hell was turned loose, we had only gone about half a mile when I saw Howard go down, I went over to him, he was lying on his side, resting in a small shell hole. He knew me, but was pretty nearly gone. He had a bullet through the head but he was not disfigured. I knelt down by him and he smiled and waved me to go ahead then passed away, he was not in pain and did not suffer any, as soon as he expired. I had to go on, as the company was quite away a-head, and I might be needed any time, as the other signaller was sick and there was only one Runner left. Besides, the other Runners 3 of them and the Serg’t Major where wounded at the start, oh how I wanted to stay with H. but duty called me ahead.
I stayed with him until he passed away, which was only a few minutes and at the last he waved me ahead and smiled at me to keep going.
I got a slight wound in the hand but it did not bother me.
Oh how I feel for you and Dad and the girls and Walter. I know how you will feel, it was only the thought of you all at home that kept me going.
I was over where he was buried last night after we got in, and the battalions have the grave fixed very nice, there are 70 of our boys buried in the same plot which is all fenced and fixed up, all the graves are marked with names and numbers and with a big cross in the centre, the plot is along side of one of the main roads between two big towns.
I had a letter from Ethel, let her read this and ask her to excuse my not writing. I will try and write her a letter next week.
I am enclosing a little slip I cut out of a paper at home before I enlisted and which I have carried since, and which I have read a lot since the ninth of April. It decided me about enlisting it made me feel like a coward, staying at home when others were fighting, and after what I have seen I am not sorry I enlisted, hoping you will not grieve but let us look to God for strength and pray that we are spared to see one another again. I am as ever, your son & brother Roland.
P.S. Kind regards to all.
R.
Catherine Baxter has kindly provided The Current with additional details about this poignant correspondence. The “little slip of paper” Roland refers to in the letter is the poem “In Flanders Fields.” Roland Ford was 24 years old when he wrote the letter. His brother, Howard Ford, was 19 when he was killed in action. Roland was gassed with mustard gas at Hill 70 and received two wounds in battle. Roland Ford later became Joseph Baxter’s father-in-law when his daughter, Marjorie, married Joe.
Attendees of all ages warmed up after the outdoor portion of the Remembrance Service with a hearty lunch in the Legion Hall provided by Branch 406 volunteers. Many local businesses, individuals and organizations sponsored wreaths. Photos Roger Prince.
God Bless all our veterans. This was a wonderful and well attended ceremony.