Tuck, Elmer Lawrence

SOLDIER DETAILS:

Tuck, Elmer Lawrence
Private 54th Battalion 663497
August 8, 1918
Beaucort British Cemetery, Somme, France
Parents from Milton Ontario
Maple Leaf Legacy Project

Victoria Park Cenotaph
R. Laughton

Beaucort British Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves

Private Tuck is remembered on the Victoria Park Cenotaph in Milton ON.

Private Tuck is buried in Beaucort British Cemetery, about 18 kms south-east of Amiens.

Grave A. 19.

Other Links:

	CEFSG Matrix Unit Information - 54th Bn
	Library and Archives Canada - 54th Bn
	Nicholson Chapter XII and Map 11

SOLDIER SUMMARY:

Private Tuck was the son of Jacob and Sarah Tuck of Trafalgar Township of Milton, Ontario. His service record shows that he joined the local 164th Infantry Battalion on February 23, 1916, just shy of the 18 year age requirement. From the 164th he was transferred to the 2nd Reserve Battalion on April 23, 1917. From there he moved to the 54th Battalion (4th Division, 11th Infantry Brigade).

Private Tuck was reported killed in action on August 8, 1918, the very first day of what is known as "Canada's Hundred Days". During this time, the CEF moved from Amiens to Mons with rapid speed, not previously seen in the prior 4 years of trench warfare. The 8th was one of the most significant days in the advance of the Canadian's and as the German's reported "a black day in the German history of the war".

The war diary of August 8, 1918 reports on the death of a number of Canadian soldiers moving up the Amiens to Roy Road when the enemy shelled the position and killed one soldier and wounded a number of others. It would appear it was Private Tuck that was killed. There were no other casualties reported. The sketch included with the war diary shows the hostile machine gun nests as the 54th Battalion advanced.

Nicholson's text refers to the scattered machine gun fire as the troops advanced, the positions of which could not be defined to be taken out by artillery fire. The 4th Division moved to take over and secure the gains made by the cavalry.

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

Elmer Lawrence Tuck