Brown, John

“John Brown served in the 18th Btn from 30 Jan 1915. His mother was a widow with two other sons in service, and since they ran a farm, it was by his mother’s permission that he was allowed to join up. He became a machine gunner and served with the 4th Brigade Canadian Machine Gun Corps. He was killed in action during the attack on Vimy Ridge 9th of April 1917. His memory is continued on the Vimy Memorial. He also appears on the Strathroy cenotaph.”

[Source: Strathroy Museum]

 John Brown’s “Attestation Papers” indicate that he was born on December 18, 1895, he signed up at Strathroy with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces on January 30th, 1915, and he gave his correct age as 19 years, 1 month.  (Not all signatories gave their correct age.) He reported that he was a farmer at RR#2 Mt. Brydges, Caradoc Township. The Attestation Papers stamp shows that he was at some time placed in the 33rd Battalion.

John Brown’s “Discharge Documents” show that he was killed in action on April 9th, 1917.  He was 21 years old when he died. This cover document also shows that he was at one time in the 87th Battalion of the C.E.F. (Canadian Expeditionary Forces).  It was not unusual for a soldier to enlist in one battalion (the 33rd in this case), and subsequently be moved from battalion to battalion as men were needed in different places, at different times, for different duties.  WWI was known as a war of attrition and hundreds of thousands of men were killed, sometimes tens of thousands in a single day, and they needed to be replaced.

This map shows the location of Corporal John Brown, with the 4th Machine Gun Company, supporting militia of the 2nd Canadian Division in their April 9th, 1917 attack on Vimy Ridge: 4th.machine.gun.Map Apr.9.1917

John Brown’s discharge cover document also indicates that several other records were in his file, but we have been unable to find them as yet.  These include: Regimental Conduct Sheet, Casualty Forms, Parchment Certificate R149, Medical History Sheet, Company Conduct Sheet, a form A.F.B. 178 (?), and others which are difficult to discern on the hand written record.

John Brown’s name appears in the WWI Book of Remembrance,

and he is recorded in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial (where we learn he was the son of Mrs. E.C. Brown of Mount Brydges and his late father, Robert Brown.

Each battalion had its own historian, in other words, a secretary, who recorded pertinent events in a daily diary.  Below is the War Diaries of the First World War – 4th Canadian Machine Gun Company, for the first part of April 1917.  A more detailed record is available, but only the days surrounding John Brown’s death on April 9th are included here. The events of April 9th can be found on the fourth page below, and it gives details of specific locations of the armaments, one of which would include John Brown at the time of his death. The fact that the diarist could record exact gun placements indicates the amount of pre-planning and practice that occurred prior to the attack.

War Diaries of 4th CMGC April.1917

 The Brigade Machine Gun Companies used various types of armament at different times: Colt Machine Guns, Lewis Gun, Vickers Guns. “In Aug 1916, the infantry battalion MG detachments were increased to 14 Lewis guns and 2 Colt machine guns, while the brigade machine gun companies were to be armed with 16 Vickers Guns. The infantry battalions eventually dispensed with the Colt and began issuing the Lewis Gun as a weapon used directly by Infantry Platoons.”

The conflict in France up to late 1916 was one of mass attrition of men. Tens of thousands were being killed in a single day because of heavy artillery bombardment when in trenches and machine gun slaughter when they “went over the top”.

In 1917 a ‘new plan’ by a new French General Robert Neville was to attack a large German salient (bulge) that extended into Allied lines from Soissons to Reims.  It was known as the Aisne Front after the river that flowed through it. The idea was to surround the bulge, pinch it of from two sides from the rear and capture the enclosed area. The French under Neville would attack from the south and the British under General Haig would attack from the north.

The four Canadian Divisions would be part of the British sector, and faced the fiercely defended section where over 100,000 dead French soldiers before them had failed to break through -the ridge at Thélus, France, up hill 135 to top of the ridge at Vimy. 21 first wave battalions of around 15,000 infantrymen were to attack.

The War Diaries of the 4th Machine Gun Company summarize the placement of the machine gunners that day. Cpl. Brown’s 4th M.G.C. was attached to support either the 18th Battalion. The records indicate that the 18th and 19th, “…arrived at the Black Line (their goal) at 6:11 A.M., the infantrymen drawn from Western Ontario made rapid advances until a hidden machine-gun nest opened up and sent riflemen into the mud. Every time the Canadians moved forward, they were shot down. Grenadiers tried to close the distance but were unable to cross the kill zone.  The rifle grenadiers lobbed their small bombs, but the notoriously inaccurate grenades could not find the range.” [Vimy: The Battle and The Legend by Tim Cook]

It is likely that Cpl. Brown was killed at about this time of morning.  The bombardment of the terrain and of human bodies was terrible.  Cpl. Brown’s remains were never found.

His name is engraved with  11,284 other Canadians whose final resting place is unknown. There is a family memorial stone in the Strathroy Municipal Cemetery.