Pte. Charles Morrison 195723 93rd Bn/ 5th CMR

 

Pte. Charles Morrison

93^rd Peterborough Battalion/ 5^th Canadian Mounted Rifles

Regimental Number 195723

 
Charles Morrison was born in Toronto, Ontario on June 8^th 1896 to unknown parents.
 
Charles was 19 and a half years old when he enlisted in the 93^rd Peterborough Battalion on December 29^th 1915.  He was unmarried, a Roman Catholic, and was living and working in Warsaw as a farm labourer at the time.  He listed his “foster-father” Patrick Fitzpatrick, of Warsaw as his next of kin.  Charles stood 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighed 127 pounds and sported a dark complexion, gray eyes and dark brown hair.  He had no previous military experience.  He was declared fit for overseas service.
 
The 93^rd Battalion continued to recruit in the Peterborough area during the winter of 1916, and moved to Barriefield camp, Kingston when they finally were up to full strength at the end of May.  There they received two months more training before heading east by train to the post of Halifax, where the entire battalion boarded the S.S. Empress of Britain for England.
 
After a fairly uneventful ten days crossing the Atlantic, Charles and the 93^rd landed safely in Portsmouth on July 25^th and were marched to their new home at Otterpool Camp, near Folkestone, Kent.  At Folkestone the 93^rd, like many other battalions at the time, were broken up and its men used to reinforce other battalions already fighting at the front.  Morrison was one of a large draft of 9rd men to join the 5^th Canadian Mounted Rifles.  The 5^th CMR, unlike its name, was not a mounted unit, but rather regular infantry.

Charles landed in France on September 8th, first spending two weeks with the No.3 Entrenching battalion before joining the 5^th Mounted Rifles in the Somme area on the 2^nd of October. Though he was new to battle, he most likely saw action during the brutal attack against Regina Trench on October 1^st.  By the end of the Canadians part in the gruelling Somme offensive on November 1^st, 1916, Charles and his comrades could have officially called themselves veterans.
 
The next several months were spent behind the lines reforming the shattered battalion.  By January 1917, the entire Canadian Corps moved into the Vimy sector to begin planning their historic attack on that Ridge.  Charles would have spent the next three months alternating between holding the front lines and training in the rear.  Morrison would make up part of a machine gun team that would include three other Dummer boys, brothers Clayton and Verne Selkirk and Vivian Jackson.  Months of preparations would come to fruition in the early morning of April 9^th, when Morrison and the 5^th packed into the tunnels leading up to the front line jump off points. The 5^th’s War Diary described: “one continuous roar.  The ground shook and there is mingled with the roar of the guns, the swishing and screeching of the shell-filled air.”  The 5^th did not make the initial assault, but remained in support and ready to reinforce the leading units of the assault.  By mid-day Morrison and his machinegun team were moved up to reinforce the front lines on the Ridge.  A letter written by his fellow gunner, Vivian Jackson, describes the team’s experience during the attack:

“Well, dear mother, we had some time at Vimy Ridge. I suppose you read about it in the paper. Gee, it was some day to spend a Bank holiday.  It rained and snowed to beat the band and you could hardly hear yourself speak for the rattle of the machine guns and our artillery.  When we got to the top of Vimy we started to dig ourselves in. Clate, Morrison and myself bet it for shell hole a little piece in front.  We were mighty near frozen, having been on the move all night. Well, we stayed in the shell hole for a while and along came our Sergeant, who said: ‘Well, boys, how would a wee drop go?’ We said, ‘fine’; so he gave us a shot of rum out of his water bottle. It put new life into us. Well, after a short while we moved further over the ridge and came to our final objective- one of Fritz’s trenches. There we started to dig funk holes in the side for a little cover from shrapnel. We had not been in the trench five minutes when he started putting over some of his blooming stuff. Say, there were casualties in no time. He could drop his shells right into the middle of the trench.
Well, dear mother, it was the third shell he put over that got me.  I was working away at my funk hole when bang went the shell. Gee, I was dazed for a minute or so.  I did not know what was wrong. I stood up and then I began to feel something warm run down my arm and leg.  I found my coat sleeve was torn in three places. Morrison was not three feet from me, but he escaped.”  
 
It was most certain that Morrison did not escape unhurt, as he was struck in the left knee by shrapnel and received a minor laceration and severe bruising. He was determined to stick it out on his gun though, remaining with Clayton Selkirk for another 12 hours, before being sent to the No.3 Canadian General Hospital for two days, then to a convalescent depot for another ten, before being discharged back to his unit.
 
Charles Morrison remained with the 5^th Canadian Mounted Rifles and participated in the many engagements throughout 1917 and 1918, including as part of the spearhead of the Canadian Forces as they pushed into the city of Mons on the 11^th of November of 1918.
 
Pte. Charles Morrison returned to Canada and was formally discharged in Montreal on March 19^th 1919.  He would later move to British Columbia shortly after returning to Canada.
 
Sources
Canada. "Military Service File of Charles Morrison." Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa: Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 6401 - 7. Item Number 205068.