Orville Osbourne Fletcher
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SOLDIER DETAILS:
Fletcher,
Orville Osbourne
Private 38th Battalion 410093
April 21, 1915
Vimy
Memorial, France
Born in Campbellville (Milton)1892 |
Haltonville Cenotaph
R. Laughton
.jpg)
CWGC Vimy Memorial
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Private Orville Fletcher is memorialized
on the Vimy Memorial in France and the Haltonville
Cenotaph in Milton, Ontario.
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| Other Links:
For a detailed review of the 4th Division on the Somme in
November 1916, and the action that led to the death of Private
Fletcher, please refer to Nicholson Chapter VI (pages 188-198).
Map 5 shows the general area and Sketch 36 shows the details of
November 18, 1916. |
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SOLDIER SUMMARY:
| Private Fletcher's Attestation Papers show he was
borne in Campbellville (now Milton Ontario) in March 1892. His
Military Will shows his benefactors as his brother George W. S.
Fletcher and sister Mrs. Thos. Richardson, of Campbellville.
Orville attested directly to the 38th Infantry Battalion
(12th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Division). This unit was
somewhat unique, as prior to serving in France and Flanders, it
did Garrison Duty in Bermuda, relieving the Royal Canadian
Regiment. Private Fletcher would have arrived in Bermuda in
August 1915 aboard the Caledonia. After service in Bermuda the
38th Battalion moved to England, arriving in Plymouth on June 9,
1916 aboard the Grampian. The unit arrived in France on
August 14, 1916.
Private Fletcher's service record shows he was KIA on November
18, 1916 at which time the war diary lists a large
number of casualties in the taking of Desire Trench, in the
Battle of Ancre Heights. The 38th was in the vicinity of Pozières
on the Albert to Bapaume Road (The Somme Area). A report on the
determined action of this date is also contained in the war
diary of the 12th
Infantry Brigade. |
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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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