SOLDIER DETAILS:
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Victoria Park Cenotaph
R. Laughton
Commonwealth War Graves
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Captain
Robertson is memorialized on the Victoria Park Cenotaph
in Milton ON.
Captain Robertson is buried in the Vis-en-Artois
Cemetery in the Pas-de-Calais area of France, along with
other soldiers from Milton, although unrelated in
Battle.
II. D. 16.
Milton men at Vis-en-Artois Cemetery (Google
Earth) |
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SOLDIER SUMMARY:
| Captain Robertson was not a Milton boy by birth
but certainly he was an active part of the community, as an
accountant at P. L. Robertson Co. Ltd. for 4 years. A
Walkerton lad, he married nurse Mary
Zimmerman, formerly of Milton, while in London England. If
correct, the 1911 Census shows Charles
Robertson as a lodger at the home of Emily Hall in the Town
of Milton. The Last Will and Testament of Charles
Robertson states he is from the Town of Milton in the County of
Halton.
Looks like one or the other followed someone to England!
Ottawa reported that Captain Robertson was first appointed a
Temporary Second Lieutenant in the RFC on December 7,
1915. He was a Lieutenant in the Canadian Militia and a
"Temporary Captain" in the British Army RFC. He was
initially rejected as a pilot candidate but obviously persevered
and graduated from the Central Flying School in March
1917. He had taken pilot training with the Curtiss Company
in Toronto, Ontario.
The service records recovered by John Challinor and Jim Dills
report that he was on an "Evening Distant Offensive
Patrol" when his aircraft was brought down "in
flames" by German Anti-Aircraft fire in the area of Buissy,
France. Captain Robertson was reported missing on July 12,
1917. He had been commissioned as an officer in the Royal
Flying Corps and at the time was serving in the No. 11 Squadron,
No. 12 Wing. His death was confirmed in a message dropped from a
German aeroplane after his death. |
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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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