Clarence Gray Fisher 1898-1941
106th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
“He [Raymond DeCoste] was coming down a communication trench and a ” Whizz Bang ” landed pretty handy to him and a piece of shell casing hit him on the hip. He said he had a good ” Blighty ” and did not think he was hurt bad but he died the next day…” Clarence Gray Fisher, France 18 June 1917
Somewhere in France
June 18, 1917
Dear Mother,
I rec’d your parcel and two bundles of papers today and one letter today and one yesterday. I hope what that fellow says about the war is true. Yes I was in that battle you were asking me about. I was one of the lucky ones. What that fellow says about Raymond DeCoste is about right as far as what I heard. He was coming down a communication trench and a ” Whizz Bang ” landed pretty handy to him and a piece of shell casing hit him on the hip. He said he had a good ” Blighty ” and did not think he was hurt bad but he died the next day.
I was out about two miles today to the gas school to get a gas mask. As it was so warm I went in my shirt sleeves. I was just coming back when it started to rain and thunder all in about a minute when the sun was out as bright as a silver dollar.
I was over to see some of the 106th boys. I saw quite a few of them and some other boys from Westville. I saw Sergt-Major Jollymore and Sergt. Dan Adamson. I also saw Dannie Corrigan, Edgar Murray and a Morrison of Westville. I got a letter from Sergt. H. MacKenzie about two months ago saying he was coming to France. I answered it but did not get a reply and I wondered what was the reason as he always wrote regular. They told me that he was killed just after he came to France.
I will close now with love to all from your ever loving son,
Clarence.
P.S. Would you mind sending me a thin sweater with short arms in it. They are the clear thing for here. The cigarettes were good and glad to get them. Am receiving all my parcels, now.
C.G.F.
Clarence signed up for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 106th Battalion, with the rank of private, on February 1, 1916 at Pictou, Nova Scotia. The young soldiers were shipped to Shorncliffe, Lower Dibgate, England, for training. Clarence trained as a Signaller at first, but later transfered to the 87th Canadian Infantry, Grenadier Guards, and became a gunner, eventually being in charge of a Lewis Machine Gun Unit.
At the battle of Vimy Ridge he received a hand wound and was buried alive for a short time when a shell exploded close to him and threw frozen earth over him. He was severely wounded, shot in the back, at Paschendale during the last year of the war and spent the rest of the war in hospital in England. These schrapnel wounds eventually contributed to his death in 1941, but ‘ nervous trouble ‘ plagued him the rest of his life.
Until his death he was capable of ‘ light work’ as an electrician, but was often unemployed. At the time of his death he was employed by my father at the Coniaurum Mine in Schumacher, Ontario. He never married.
Among the many letters and cards which Clarence sent to his mother in Trenton, Nova Scotia, is this one.
Submitter: Elizabeth Fisher Tambeau