Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 141 Francis O’Neill was born in Halifax and served Canada with the 85th Battalion Canadian Infantry during WWI. Francis was killed in action in Lens, France – this is his story as told by his niece. Francis (Frank) B. O’Neill was born on 28 June 1897 to John and Annie (Baldwin) O’Neill of Brunswick St. in Halifax. He volunteered for active service during the Great War with the 219th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. The 219th was one of four battalions raised as part of the Nova Scotia Highland Brigade. They were the 106th (Truro), 85th (Halifax), 185th (Cape Breton) and 219th (Halifax and Valley). Once they were overseas, the battalions were broken up and the 106th, 185th and 219th battalions served to reinforce the 85th battalion which was known as the Nova Scotia Highlanders. Francis lived with his parents at the time of enlistment and had one younger brother and 3 younger sisters. He was a small, slight man at 5’-4” tall and 110 pounds. He was Roman Catholic and his occupation was a printer. He signed up “for the duration of the war” and after some elementary training in Nova Scotia, was posted to England, at Bramshott camp in the south. He spent a year there in further training. Francis was kept in England longer than usual, possibly because of his age or more likely because the 85th Battalion had not seen much action in France yet. However, this changed drastically in early April 1917 as the Highlanders were thrust into their baptism of fire at the Battle of Vimy Ridge. They were not scheduled to see action but due to the high casualties in the Canadian Corps they were asked to capture “The Pimple”, a hill which allowed the Germans to inflict a lot of fire on the Canadians. The 85th were now actively involved in events in the Vimy area and were moving gradually up the road to Lens, about 15 km away. Lens was a major coal and railway district and was controlled by the Germans who had the advantage of manning 2 large hills and could lob huge explosive artillery shells at their enemy and then machine guns would finish anyone who got closer. The Canadians were ordered to drive the Germans from their positions and capture the city of Lens. The Canadians had suffered great casualties at Vimy Ridge between 9-12 April 1917 and as a result, reinforcements were sent from England to aid in the attacks leading to the major assault on Lens. Francis O’Neill was one of those reinforcements and joined the 85th on 1 June 1917. He was 19 years old and about to turn 20 on 28 June. The Nova Scotia Highlanders became part of the Canadian drive from June to August 1917 moving from Vimy Ridge to the Lens area. They were suffering great losses and the sense of danger and stench of death was everywhere. During 27-28 June 1917, the Highlanders were involved in 3 separate attacks. The most important was scheduled for 28 June at 2:30 am. As Francis nervously waited for his signal to go over the top in the attack, he was no doubt aware that this was his birthday. He was probably awaiting a birthday package from home that he could share with his mates on his special day. One half hour before the Canadian attack began, the Germans launched a vicious artillery attack on the Canadian jump-off positions, Francis O’Neill was a victim of a direct hit from one of those shells, and his body was never found. He is one of thousands with no known grave but his memory is perpetuated on the memorial at Vimy Ridge as well as on the nearby Menin Gate memorial at Ypres, near Passchendaele, Belgium. A large memorial to the 85th Battalion exists at Passchendaele honouring their heavy losses. Francis Baldwin O’Neill was 20 years old – if only for a few hours. Ironically, Francis lied about his age to sign up for active duty, thus, he was actually only 19 years old when he was killed in action. A Featured Veteran Story FRANCIS B. O’NEILL
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