Verne Selkirk 195465

Verne Alexander Selkirk was born in Blythewood, Essex County, Ontario on January 18^th 1898 to parents James and Elinor (Nellie) Selkirk.

The family later moved to the village of Warsaw sometime after 1901.  Verne was living in the village and working as a clerk when he travelled to Peterborough and enlisted with the 93^rd Peterboro Battalion on December 27, 1915.  He was  a month shy of being 18 years old, the minimum age of enlistment, but nevertheless taken on strength.  He stood 5 foot 6 inches tall and weighed 113 pounds.  He had a fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair.  He declared that he was unmarried, a Presbyterian and had no previous military experience.  It is interesting to note that Verne’s older brother Clayton had also enlisted with the 93^rd a week prior.

Verne on an early motorcycle in Warsaw circa 1913
-photo taken from the Dummer News

Verne trained with the 93^rd in Peterborough before leaving with his battalion to further train at Barriefield Camp in Kingston in March.  After four months at Kingston, Verne and the 93^rd travelled by train to Halifax, where they boarded the S.S. Empress of Britain on July 15^th and sailed for England.  After a relatively uneventful journey across the Atlantic, Verne arrived safely ten days later.  Shortly after landing Verne wrote home to tell his parents about his journey so far:

                                                                      Otterpool Camp
      July 26.1916.

Dear Mother and all-

Well mother we arrived in England safe and sound after a long trip by land and seas. It sure was some trip through Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Well Mother we were 13 days on the go and it got kind of tiresome on the ocean such a long trip out of sight of land. We had no rough weather on the way over and hardly anybody was seasick.  The sailors said they never have seen such a calm sea in a number of years.

We docked on Tuesday and arrived at camp at about eight O’clock Tues. night.  Well mother, the trip down here from Liverpool was full of excitement and Cities, such a place for houses. You never saw almost a continuous mass of houses.

Well mother we are both well and I have lots to tell you and I can’t so I guess I will have to close for now. Your son Verne.

 Upon arriving the 93^rd was stationed at Otterpool Camp in West Sandling, where it was later broken up and its ranks reposted to various other Canadian battalions already at the front. 

Verne remained in the English reserve camp until he received orders that he was to be part of a draft of 93^rd men (along his brother Clayton) who would be assigned to the 5^th Canadian Mounted Rifles.  He landed in France on September 8, 1916 at a time when the 5^th C.M.R’s along with the rest of the Canadian Corps were heavily engaged in the Battle of the Somme.  While the battle raged Verne waited behind the lines at the Brigade Depot in France for nearly two weeks before joining the 3^rd Entrenching Battalion on September 28th for five days. It was common practice for soldiers that were newly landed in France to spend time in an “Entrenching Battalion” where they would be involved in labouring behind the lines before joining their unit.

Verne joined his unit on October 2nd as they came off the line from the ferocious fighting for Regina Trench.  He was part of a draft of men who joined the Mounted Rifles to replace their depleted ranks sustained from the terrible fighting the week before.

Verne spent the winter training with his new unit as well as taking regular tours into the front line trenches.  In the spring the Canadians moved to the Vimy sector to hold the line there, and to prepare for the grand attack scheduled for April of 1917.  Verne trained with a machine gun crew that included three other Dummer boys from the old 93^rd: Vivian Jackson, Charles Morrison, and his brother, Clayton Selkirk.  Verne’s crew was in the thick of it during the battle, where German shrapnel wounded both Jackson and Morrison of his crew.  Verne and his brother Clayton both survived the attack without a scratch.

The brothers would not be so lucky in June of 1917.  On the 23^rd of the month Verne and his brother Clayton were manning an advanced machine gun post in the front line trenches near Avion, France when Clayton was killed when an artillery round landed in the forward machine gun post he was manning.  A letter written by Captain Atherton of the 5th C.M.R. gives details as to what happened:

“A stray trench mortar shell lit amongst the crew, and seriously wounded him [Clayton Selkirk]. 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.”

Verne stayed with his unit for another three months after the death of his brother, before being sent to the Canadian Corps Reinforcement Camp in Etaples on September 19, 1917.  The camp was largely an assembling area for reinforcements and troops coming from England before they were sent to their respective units, and it is not certain why Verne would have spent ten days there.  He returned to the 5^th Mounted Rifles on October 29, 1917 just in time to take part in the long assault on Passchendaele. 

The 5^th CMR attacked in the early morning on October 30^th 1917.  After two days of ferocious fighting the battalion captured their objectives of Vapour Woods and Source Farm with a staggering loss of 381 men out of the 580 who made the attack.  Verne survived the attack and was one of the relatively few men of his battalion who was able to march out of the line to the rest camp November 1^st.

Verne was granted a leave of absence from November 19^th 1917 to December 3^rd.   During this leave he was admitted sick to the hospital in Whitley Camp, England.  He wrote a short letter to his parents from his hospital bed with few precious details about his last “scrap”:

                                                                                          France.  12/12/18

Dear Parents-

Have received several letters and one parcel, so! Having nothing else to do I will try my best to answer them.  I am still holding down the white sheets but I guess it won’t be for much longer as the old boils are getting into pretty good shape.

For the last few days it has kept up a continued sprinkle of rain. It looks as if the winter has come, just only wish I could see snow instead of this mush. I just got back from hospital that last time for the beginning of our last scrap. It was certainly a different way of fighting than I have been used to.  I never saw a Jerry all the time, what do you think of that?  Jackson was on leave and Charlie on course so they both missed it.

I hope you sent the camera I requested in one of my letters about a month ago, if I go back up the line again it will come in handy.

Well folks, I have not much news so will close with heaps of love and a Merry

Xmas & Happy New Year.

Your Son, Verne Selkirk

Verne did not recover from his illness as quickly as he thought he would, instead he spent close to 10 weeks in treatment before being discharged on February 8^th, 1918.   

He made his way back to France and to the 1^st Canadian Reserve Depot where he awaited further transport back to his unit.  During the time at the depot he was admitted to the No.8 Canadian Field Ambulance on April 5^th, 1918 with “trauma to his right arm”.  Further details in his service file indicate that while at the depot, Verne had injured his arm accidentally in a game of baseball.  Doctors note that the arm was tender and swollen and around the elbow, and apparently fractured.

Verne recovered from his fractured elbow and returned to the Mounted Rifles on May 4^th, 1918.  He would have served with his unit through the Battle of Amiens and the Battle of Arras in August 1918, two hard-fought offensives that broke the German’s Hindenburg Line and signaled the beginning of the end for that Army.

It was shortly after these battles, on September 18^th, that Verne was admitted to the No.32 Stationary Hospital in Wimeraux suffering from the effects of exposure to a gas.  Medical reports indicate that he suffered from gas burns on his groin and arms as well as being slightly gassed in the lungs.  Two days later he was moved to the No.1 Convalescent Depot at Boulogne before being discharged after a complete recovery on October 5^th.

Verne Selkirk would later operate a men's
 clothing store in Peterborough, Ontario
-photo courtesy of L. Smith

Verne rejoined his unit in the field on October 16, 1918 and served with them until the Armistice on November 11^th.  Shortly after this time, on November 18^th, Selkirk entered the Casualty Clearing Station with a deep tissue infection and abscess in his neck.  He was treated for this condition and discharged on December 17, 1918.  He made his way to England to begin the demobilization.  Verne sailed from England on March 19^th, 1919 and was later discharged in Kingston, Ontario on March 29^th.  He returned to Peterborough where he later married Emma Batten of Dummer in 1923.  Verne opened up a men’s clothing store on George Street which he operated for many years.  He passed away on December 16, 1982 and is buried in Little Lake Cemetery in Peterborough, Ontario.