www.ns.legion.ca 81 continued ... Wounded at Vimy Ridge: A Nova Scotia son's story My father, Wallace Frail, was a student at Acadia College in 1916 when he decided to join the Canadian Army. He enlisted on Feb. 23, 1916, at the recruiting office that was on Main Street in Wolfville. He joined the 85th Nova Scotia Highland Battalion and trained at Camp Aldershot. On Friday, Oct. 13, 1916, the 85th Battalion sailed from the port of Halifax for England on the Olympia, a sister ship to the Titanic. They were sent to Camp Bramshott and were described by a British officer as “the finest body of troops ever sent over from Canada”. Before Wallace served on the front lines during the Battle of Vimy Ridge, he was transferred to the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment (Black Watch). The Royal Highland Regiment was an infantry regiment that began in Scotland in 1751 and served in many parts of the world. During the First World War, the members of the 42nd Black Watch were described as a “hardfighting, indomitable force” through such battles as Mount Sorel, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Amiens, Arras, and Mons, to mention a few. Canadian soldiers relieved the British soldiers serving in the trenches below Vimy Ridge several months before the attack took place on Easter Monday, April 9, 1917. My father’s account was that the battle was well planned and every soldier knew what he was to do. I have my father’s notebook where he marked in the battle positions. The battle was planned to begin at 5:30 a.m. on April 8, but because it was Easter Sunday it was postponed for 24 hours at the request of the French. The reason expressed was that “it was nauseating to contemplate the horrors that the representatives of two Christian nations would inflict on each other MACK FRAIL Published April 8, 2017 Some of Wallace Frail’s memorabilia, including the button he was most proud of and his helmet.
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