Warrie Joseph Charles Potter
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SOLDIER DETAILS:
Potter, Warrie Joseph Charles
Private 19th Battalion 757873
August 15, 1917
Vimy
Memorial, France
Parents of Trafalgar Township, Ontario
Maple Leaf Legacy Project |
Burlington Cenotaph
Marika Pirie
Vimy Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves
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Private Potter
was from Trafalgar Township but is remembered on the
Burlington Ontario Cenotaph, not the Milton Cenotaphs.
As with many local boys, he has no known grave but is
memorialized instead on the Vimy Memorial,
Pas-de-Calais, France. |
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| Other Links:
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| The Battle of Hill 70 is not one of the battles
that was covered in great detail in the history books, but it
was one of the most intense and important Canadian battles of
the Great War. It was the first battle of the new Canadian Corps
Commander, Sir General Arthur Currie. |
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SOLDIER SUMMARY:
| Private
"Joseph" Potter was not truly a Milton lad but he is
listed in the book "Milton Remembers". His father was
from Trafalgar ON and he listed his residence as Appleby ON (or
Bronte ON or Freeman ON). He was a "Stable Hand"
at the time he attested in Hamilton ON in February 1916. His
regimental number tells us he attested to the 120th Infantry
Battalion (Hamilton), which was absorbed by the 2nd
Reserve Battalion to provide for reinforcements to the
Canadian Corps in the field. He left for England on August 14,
1916 and shortly after arrival he was transferred to the 19th
Infantry Battalion at Bramshott on December 5, 1916. He was with
the 19th Infantry Battalion (4th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian
Division) in the field in France by December 9, 1916.
Private Potter was killed in action on August 15, 1917, at a
time when newly appointed Canadian Corps Commander Arthur Currie
was mounting his first stand against the Germans at the Battle
of Hill 70 near Lens, France. On August
14, 1917 the 19th Battalion was assigned as a "mopping
up unit" during the attack. The details of the Battle
of Hill 70 for Private Potter are described in the War Diary for
August 15, 1917 (page
1 and page
2). The enemy artillery was intense and the 19th was
building new trenches from shell hole to shell hole. It was a
horrific battle for all those involved, Canadian and German.
Many great Canadian soldiers lost their lives in the Battle
of Hill 70, one of Canada's "Lost
Battlefields". Private Potter was just one of the
brave 9,198 casualties who destroyed the German plans for their
offensive in Flanders that would soon follow. |
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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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