Beard, Archie Warren

SOLDIER DETAILS:

Beard, Archie Warren
Private 24th Battalion 142261
October 1, 1916
Vimy Memorial, Vimy, France
NOK at Milton ON
Maple Leaf Legacy Project

Milton Cenotaph
R. Laughton

Book of Remembrance
Parliament Buildings Ottawa

Vimy War Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves

Private Archie Beard is remembered on the Victoria Park Cenotaph, Milton. He is also noted in the Book of Remembrance, Ottawa.

He is one of the thousands of CEF soldiers with no known grave. He is remembered on the Vimy Memorial in France.

Other Links:

	CEFSG Matrix Unit Information
	Library and Archives Canada Unit Information - 24th Battalion
	War Diary October 1916
	Nicholson Chapter 6 and Map 6 for the Battle of Courcelette on the Somme.

SOLDIER SUMMARY:

Private beard attested with the 76th then was transferred to the 24th Infantry Battalions in France. He was reported missing in action near Courcelette, France in October 1, 1916, then reported killed in action.

In late September and early October the 24th was active at Regina Trench as the Battle of Ancre Heights began. For details see Nicholson page 182. The war diary for that date says the men were annihilated!

Unfortunately for Privates Beard was probably killed by "friendly fire" as the CEF artillery fell short. Some 964 men of the 24th Battalion were lost in that short period of time.

The details of the action at this time are covered in detail in Appendix A of the unit war diary (start at A-1).

Courcelette, September 1916

The soldier pages contain information that is available from a number of resources. The following hyperlinks are active where the information is available:

	Soldier Name: Veteran Affairs Canada, Canadian Virtual War Memorial
	Soldier Number: Library and Archives Canada, Attestation Papers
	Cemetery: Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Debt of Honour Register
	Remembrance: Maple Leaf Legacy Project, Remembrance of Canada's War Dead

The summary of the service is taken from the soldier's service records, if they were available from Library and Archives Canada. A complete copy of the service record is available in electronic and paper format in the Alex Cooke Memorial Archives at the Milton Historical Society. Using that summary, combined with the key references, a summary of the events leading up to the death of the soldier has been prepared. The research information available is as noted on the Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group web site Matrix Project as well as in the Library and Archives Canada On-Line War Diaries.

A summary of all the soldiers is contained on the Web Blog "Great War Soldiers of Milton, Ontario CANADA". Please also be sure to purchase your own copy of "Milton Remembers World War I - The Men and Women We Never Knew" by John Challinor II and Jim Dills, edited by Ken Lamb.

Milton Historical Society

Archie Warren Beard