SOLDIER DETAILS:
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Victoria Park Cenotaph
R. Laughton |
Private Dockray
is remembered on the Victoria Park Cenotaph
in Milton, Ontario. |
Book of Remembrance
Virtual War Memorial |
Joseph Dockray
is recorded in the Book of Remembrance, Parliament
Buildings, Ottawa |
Commonwealth War Graves |
Private
Dockray
is one of many thousand CEF Soldiers commemorated
on the Vimy Memorial in France.
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| Other Links:
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SOLDIER SUMMARY:
| Private Dockray was the husband of Esther Dockray
of Milton, Ontario. He previously served for 12 years in
the Royal
Engineers in the UK (Leeds, Yorkshire), prior to attesting to
the 76th Battalion. When he arrived in England in May 1916
he was assigned to the 21st Battalion (2nd Division, 4th
Infantry Brigade). He was reported "Missing in
Action" then "Killed In Action" between September
15th and
17th, 1916.
The summer and fall of 1916 were the "Battles of the
Somme" as reported in Nicholson
Chapter VI. The action from September 15th to 20th was
at Courcelette, moving towards the Sugar Factory (see
Map 6) or better yet Google
Earth. This was the premier battle with Allied
Tanks. The Germans were shocked!
The war diaries are explicit for the Courcelette battle,
please see the details here: 1,
2,
3,
4
(all officers casualties), and 5.
From these battles "Sunken Road" became a name not to
be forgotten in the Great War. Private Dockray is one of the
many men of the 21st Battalion that has been studied by the 21st
Battalion Research Group. You will find that information here: Private
Dockray, 21st Battalion and as well an image of the
inscription from the Vimy Monument, courtesy of Al Lloyd: 
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The soldier pages contain information
that is available from a number of resources. The following hyperlinks
are active where the information is available:
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. |
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