Older brother to Private Eric Carthy who, was himself, killed in action first on September 16, 1915.
“‘To Avenge his death.’ Great War tears a family, city apart” by Jeff Outhit, The Record, Kitchener, Ontario. Published December 26, 2015.
More details involving Percy Carthy’s death and his humanity:
Joseph and Harriet [Percy Carthy’s parents] have their hearts broken again. A stranger writes to them in sorrow from Woodstock. She explains that her brother and Percy were pals at the Belgian front. Her brother was badly wounded there in January 1916, not long after Eric was killed.
Percy told her brother about how hard it was to lose Eric. When her brother was wounded, Percy helped shield him from further harm, throwing himself across his body to protect him from a bursting shell. The woman tells Joseph and Harriet that her brother, recovering uncertainly in England, speaks often and fondly of Percy. His family has not told him the sad news to spare him the shock.
She writes: “I hope Mrs. Carthy that you, your husband and your family in your great loss will find a little consolation in knowing what a great hero your son was.”
Outhit, J. (2016). ‘To avenge his death.’ Great War tears a family, city apart. [online] Therecord.com. Available at: http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6209663–to-avenge-his-death-great-war-tears-a-family-city-apart/ [Accessed 1 Jan. 2016].
Biographical information:
” Percy was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, England on October 9, 1894. He was the son of Joesph and Harriet Boothby Carthy, who, at the time of his enlistment, lived at 39 Waterloo Street, Berlin, Ontario, later 277 Nelson Avenue, Kitchener. He listed his occupation as labourer.
He enlisted January 25, 1915, three days after his younger brother. Percy was connected to the 18th Battalion of the Western Ontario Regiment. He went overseas in April 1915 and to the front on September 16, 1915. He sustained gunshot wounds in the eye and leg on June 7, 1916. He was killed in action on September 15, 1916 at the age of 21.
Percy is remembered on the Vimy Memorial in the Pas de Calais, France. He had no known grave. He is remembered by the Royal Canadian Legion, Ontario: Branch 50 – Fred Gies, Kitchener – Wall of Remembrance.”
Source: A Book of Remembrance: Members of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Kitchener, Ontario.
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 