Remembering a fallen soldier

Remembering a fallen soldier

Regional News

By: George Beatty

He was in his early 20s when he left the family farm near Kincardine, Ont., for the bright lights of the city — first in British Columbia and later Toronto. It was 1914 and Murray Welsh was looking for something more exciting than milking cows and stooking wheat. He would not have long to wait.

Soon after the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Dragoons and found himself stationed at Toronto’s Stanley Barracks as a groom for army officers posted to Toronto for training. The assignment lacked all of the excitement he had anticipated.  

In an early letter home, he wrote: “I made up my mind to let them get someone else to do their grooming. I don’t think this squadron will ever see active service and a lot of them don’t want to, either.”  We had “a well thought-out plan” to change things when the opportunity presented itself, he explained.

When the time came, Murray and two of his enlisted buddies ignored military regulations and took matters into their own hands. Writing home the day after landing in Plymouth, England, he said: “Three of us packed our kits and fell in with a Toronto bunch that was heading overseas on the S.S. Megantic.  We were not detected until we gave ourselves up when we got here.

“I hope your Presbyterian conscience will be able to overlook this.  Men are badly needed in France and there are plenty of others who would sooner be at home. I suppose my decision should be kept more or less to the family,” he added apologetically.

The threatened court marshal didn’t materialize and the three soldiers were quickly dispatched to France to catch up with their regiment, already in battle. Murray proved to be a good soldier, rising from Private to Corporal and earning the Distinguished Service Medal in the process.

The bitter fighting in Europe severely tested the young soldier’s strength and courage for almost three solid years. However, as if to spare the folks at home his fear and loneliness, his infrequent letters home were remarkably upbeat. His words betrayed the heartbreak of losing comrades, the deplorable conditions of war and the miseries of being away from friends and family in Huron Township.

The final chapter of Murray’s life was written on March 30, 1918 — mere months before the German surrender.  His uniformed comrade Albert Cullen of Toronto, tells the sad story in a letter he wrote to Murray’s mother and father after hostilities ended.

“I was in action with Murray last spring when we made the charge on horseback on the Moreul Wood.  I wasn’t more than 12 yards from the spot your son fell. The enemy got a direct aim on him with machine gun fire.  He was riddled with machine bullets. He died a real hero.

“We went into action with 153 men and horses and came out with 20 men and 10 horses. I was one of the lucky ones.  You are aware that your son won the Distinguished Service Medal in action in marches of January and Feb. 18.”

Another close friend, Private W. A. Pringle of Markham, also wrote the family telling them in heartbreaking terms the fate of their second son: “We were pushed back after the attack at Moreul Wood and our dead had to be left behind. Your son, a fine soldier, was one of them.”

The Distinguished Service Medal never reached Murray but his mother, on Oct. 22, 1919, was presented with the medal by the Prince of Wales in a ceremony in London, Ont.  His name is engraved on the Canadian War Memorial at Vimy Ridge, not far from the spot where he gave his life to make the world a better place.  

George Beatty was a nephew of Murray Welsh. A former journalist and public relations executive now retired, he lives in the Swan Lake neighbourhood of Markham. He can be reached at beattyswan@rogers.com

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