Clayton Robertson Selkirk
195445
Clayton Selkirk was born on April
29, 1896 in Blytheswood, Essex County, Ontario. His parents James and Eleanor
lived at Lot 6, Concession 7, Morsea Township where they owned a mill. By 1911, James retired and moved his family
to Lot 12, Concession 1, of Dummer Township.
Clayton enlisted on December 21st
1915 in the 57th Regiment, a long-standing Peterborough militia regiment whose
members later formed the nucleus of 93rd Peterboro Overseas
Battalion. He listed his occupation as an
engineer, and indicated that he had previously served 1 year in the 3rd
Dragoons. The 21 year-old stood 5’9” tall, had a fresh complexion, blue
eyes, and light brown hair. He was Presbyterian.
Pte. Selkirk appears on the nominal
roll of 93rd soldiers who departed Halifax on July 15th 1916, bound
for England. Sometime after arriving in England the 93rd was broken up to
reinforce other battalions already at the front. Selkirk along with a selection of his
Peterborough comrades, were re-assigned to the 5th Canadian Mounted
Rifles.
During his re-assignment, Selkirk
advanced in rank to Lance-Corporal and was put in command of a Machine Gun
section in the 5th C.M.R. His section was comprised of three other Warsaw boys from the 93rd: Vivian Jackson, Charles Morrison, and
Clayton’s younger brother: Verne Selkirk.
Clayton wrote home to his mother
after the epic battle of Vimy Ridge, where four of his crew were wounded:
“Dear
Parents,-- Just a few lines to let you know we two boys are O.K. after the big
battle which I guess you will have read
of long ago, before this reaches you.
Jackson Morrison and Stanley Thompson were wounded, but I haven’t heard
whether any more of the home boys were hurt or not. Vivian was hit in the arm and Charlie in the
leg. I don’t know about Stan [Stanley
Thompson of Warsaw], but I think his wounds are more serious than the other two
boys. I hope they all make Blighty.
Jackson had a big smile on his face.
Charlie stuck with me on the gun, twelve hours after he’d been hit, but
had to go out at last.”
In a different letter home, Clayton
describes the actual incident at Vimy when his comrades were wounded:
“You speak of [Vivian] Jackson being hit when he was out of the line, well believe me he was right in Old Fritz’s line that he got hit. I’ll never forget the look on his face when he was hit. I did not want to dig in where we were, but our officer got the men to work digging in, he was excited and I was taking away to him trying to get him to move the men when a shell came tearing along and hit on the parados and of course it had to go off. “Jack, Chas., and the rest of my crew were all there. Every one excepting myself got hit, four of them went to Blighty and my No.6 man stayed with me till we were relieved
During the second day of the battle, the
Canadians were able to push the Germans of the Ridge and hold back their
counterattacks. Selkirk writes:
“I
guess old Fritz thought we could not make Vimy Ridge, but we had to show him we
could. When we would capture a Fritz it was fun to see him going though his
usual course of putting his hands above his head and crying ‘Mercy kamarade.’
While we fellows gently searched his pockets to see what souvenirs we could
find or dangerous weapons. Most of them had something that was worth keeping.
One fellow handed me a watch that had either been taken from a French soldier
or a jeweler’s shop. It may have quite a story attached to it. The Fritz’s that we were up against were just
back from the Russian front, the 262nd and the 263rd Pioneer Battalion, I
think.”
Selkirk has less success acquiring trophies
from the four prisoners he took on the second day of the battle. In a letter written to his parents he says:
“I’ll
send you a picture of four Fritz I captured on Vimy the 10th of
April next day after we went over. They all have the Iron Cross [medals] but
none of them would let us take them off, we did not bother them very much.”
During his service overseas, Clayton
Selkirk received the honour of a Mention in Dispatches.
This indicates that his name appeared in an official report written by a
superior officer and was sent to the high command, describing his gallant or
meritorious action in the face of the enemy.
In a letter to Lance.-Corporal Selkirk’s father, his commanding officer
Captain Atherton, tells of other recommendations of valour:
“After
the Vimy show, I recommended him for a decoration, on account of his
exceptionally good work, and I was greatly disappointed when nothing came of
it. He was also recommended by an officer of another battalion to which he was
temporarily attached.”
Lance-Corp. Selkirk was killed in the
trenches near Avion, France on June 23 1917.
A letter of sympathy written by Captain Atherton of the 5th C.M.R. gives
details as to the manner of death:
“At
the time of receiving the wounds which caused his death Corporal Selkirk was in
charge of his gun on the most advanced post on our front. A stray trench mortar
shell lit amongst the crew, and seriously wounded him. Although he was not
killed instantly, he never regained consciousness, and he died on the way out. Everything was done to save his life, but his
wounds were too many and grievous. His brother [Verne Selkirk] was with him at
the time, but fortunately received nothing worse than a severe shaking up. On
account of the shock to his nerves, however, we sent him out of the line immediately.”
Clayton Selkirk was buried by several of his comrades
in Petit Vimy British Cemetery, 4 miles South-Southwest of Lens. He appears on the Dummer Township Cenotaph in
Warsaw, Ontario.
Sources:
93rd
Peterborough Overseas Battalion Nominal Roll 1917.Canadian Commonwealth Graves Commission. “Casualty Details: Clayton Robertson Selkirk.” Accessed:
05/06/2014. <http://www.cwgc.org>
Library & Archives Canada. Attestation Papers: Clayton Selkirk. Accessed 05/06/2014. <http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca>
Peterborough Evening Examiner. “More Vivid Stories of Canadian Victory,”, May 09 1917, P.9
Peterborough Evening Examiner. “Corp. Clayton Selkirk Was Killed By Stray Trench Mortar Shell”, August 01
1917, P.10
Veterans Affairs Canada. “Canadian Virtual War Memorial: Clayton Robertson Selkirk”. Accessed 0506/2014
<http://www.veterans.gc.ca>
No comments:
Post a Comment