Poole, Bruce: Service no. 675904

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Source: Via Facebook Group via Katherine Cross. The CVWM and CWGC records indicate that this soldier served with the 2nd Battalion when he was killed. The Circumstances of Death Register indicates he served with the 18th Battalion.

The subsequent research shows this soldier was serving with the 18th Battalion when he was killed in action.

Summary of Service for Private Bruce Poole, reg. no. 675904

Note: This soldier joined a battalion that normally would have reinforced other members of the same Regimental area (Western Ontario Regiment). For some reason, Private Poole was assigned to the 2^nd Battalion, which was primarily reinforced from battalion of the Central Ontario Regiment (i.e. Ottawa, Brockville, Cornwall Ontario). He served with the 2^nd Battalion, was wounded, recovered, and returned. Then he was assigned to the 18^th Battalion September 29, 1918.

It is rare for soldiers to be assigned to two different front-line battalions during their service. Typically a soldier is assigned to a front-line battalion and stays with that unit until wounded, invalided or killed. If they are wounded or invalided and can be reclaimed through treatment they will go back to their original unit.

It is not known why Private Poole was assigned to the 2^nd Battalion and it is further not known why he was transferred to the 18^th. With the close of the war being obtainable perhaps he wanted to serve with men from is region and be demobilized with this unit and returned to Canada.

“By contrast, Chauncey and Frances Poole of Norwich accepted that their son Bruce had volunteered with the 168th precisely to “do his bit for the great cause.”126 Once he recovered from the “blighty” that he had sustained at Hill 70 in September 1917, the avid letter writer had re-entered the reinforcement pool and joined the 18th Battalion in the field in France on 2 October 1918. Within a week he endured heavy enemy shelling, tasted life in the trenches once again, and prepared to establish a bridgehead over the Canal de l’Escaut with his new unit. On 10 October, the battalion initiated an attack under an artillery barrage that fired short (with “our own shells breaking just ahead of the jumping off position” – proving that even the lauded Canadian gunners were imperfect) and then faced heavy enemy machine gun fire during their advance. After spending the night in old trenches that they had captured, Poole and his comrades advanced again the next morning, turning back enemy tanks using concentrated rifle, Lewis gun, and machine gun fire. The battered battalion was relieved that evening, but Poole did not survive to rest and enjoy good billets in Thun l’Evêque the next day. He and ten other soldiers were killed during the battle, and another 72 wounded.127

Source: “Familiar Fields to Foreign Soil: Three Rural Townships and the Great War”, page 364-365.

Date	Event	Remarks
August 25, 1896	Born	Born in Norwich, Ontario to Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Poole.
April 15, 1916	Enlisted	Enlisted with the 168th Battalion at Norwich, Ontario.
May 18, 1916	Inoculated	Anti-Typhoid
May 28, 1916	Inoculated	Anti-Typhoid
October 1, 1916	Vaccinated
October 30, 1916	Unit sails	Battalion departs Halifax to England on board the S.S. Lapland.
November 1916	Assigns pay	Assigns $20.00 per month to Mrs. Francis Poole.
November 11, 1916	Arrives Liverpool.	Arrives England
November 13, 1916	Tonsillitis	Admitted for treatment, Moore Barracks, Shornecliffe.
November 19, 1916	Tonsillitis	Discharged to duty.
December 5, 1916	Taken on Strength	Transferred to the 39th Battalion, West Sandling.
December 11, 1916	Accident	Fractures clavicle in an accident and is transferred to the 5th London General Hospital, St. Thomas London, SE.
January 4, 1917	Taken on Strength	Transferred to the 6th Reserve Battalion.
February 13, 1917	Admitted hospital	Admitted Canadian Convalescent Hospital, Epsom Park for a fractured clavicle.
March 7, 1917	Released from hospital
May 13, 1917	Submits Military Will	Leaves his estate to this mother, Mrs. Francis Poole of Norwich, Ontario, Oxford County.
May 27, 1917	Drafted to the 2nd Battalion	Arrives at the Canadian Base Depot, Le Harve.
June 11, 1917	Leaves for 2nd Battalion	Leaves C.B.D. to join his battalion in the field.
June 13, 1917	Arrives 2nd Battalion	Arrives in the field. The Battalion was based at Bois des Alleux, France and was in Brigade Support on June 12, 1917. The Battalion’s War Diary for the 13th simply states: “Abnormally quiet.”
September 16, 1917	Wounded	Shrapnel wound, right leg and transferred to No. 23 Casualty Clearing Station. The Battalion had moved to the Fosse Sector.
September 18, 1917	Transferred	Transferred to the 13th General Hospital, Boulogne, France.
September 21, 1917	Invalided (Wounded)	Posted to Eastern Ontario Regimental Depot, Seaford, England.
September 22, 1917	Admitted	County of Middlesex War Hospital at Nasbury, St. Albans
October 31, 1917	Admitted	Canadian Convalescent Hospital, Epsom Park.
November 12, 1917	Taken on Strength	6th Reserve Battalion, Seaford, England.
Augusts 2, 1918	Posted	Taken on strength with the 2nd Battalion. The 2nd Battalion is located at Magincourt, France and had a Brigade Sports Day.
September 29, 1918	Taken off Strength	Taken off strength with the 18th Battalion. At this time the 2nd Battalion is South-East of Epinoy, France and heavily engaged in open-warfare during The 100 Days Campaign.
October 11, 1918	Killed in Action.	Circumstances of Death Card notes: “Killed in Action” Whilst taking part in the advance East of Iwuy he was hit and instantly killed by shrapnel from an enemy shell.     That day is described in some detail at the post Battling Tanks at Iwuy: The last German use of tanks in World War 1 which gives some context to the death of Private Poole.   He was 22 years old.
June 14, 1920	Grave Registration	Private Poole is buried at the aptly named Niagara Cemetery, Iwuy, France. He rests with 15 members of the 18th Battalion, all who died in action on October 10 or 11, 1918. His epitaph reads “HE GIVETH HAVE BELOVED SLEEP”