| Archie William Wallace Gray | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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What follows was compiled by John Sargeant Archie, as he was known to his friends in the
21st Battalion CEF, was born 8 August 1896 at Rodney Ontario. His father was
A…. Gray. Little is known of his early life but at age
19, while employed as a painter, he answered his country’s call on 10 Sept 1915 and
joined the Canadian Expeditionary Forces going to France to fight the Germans. From his attestation papers, it looks
as if he made several attempts to join up as he had a series of three registration numbers
123448, 189105 and 123448, the latter, which seems to have stuck. He was part of the St
Thomas Elgin Battalion numbered the 91st. He was an original member of the 91st
and his name is on their nominal list. He was drafted to the 21st Btn in
England and served with them until he was moved to the 75th Btn. His name
appears in the Elgin Book of Honor. At the time of his medical examination, Sept 11th
1915 at St Thomas, to enter the armed forces, he was described as age 19, 5 feet 7 inches
tall with a light complexion, gray eyes and light hair. He stated his religion as Baptist. The next time we find Archie W Gray is when he
is mentioned as a Rev Archie Gray and the author of a book set in St Eloi, one of
the battle areas of WW 1. In the January 1934 issue of The Communiqué, a
newsletter for members of the 21st Battalion, it was announced as
follows: “The Towers of St Eloi” A war romance, bearing the above title, and
well worth reading was released by the author, Rev. A. W. Gray of Rodney Ont, at the end
of November. This story has received some very favorable
reviews, and it should be especially interesting to 21sters, as the author came to our
battalion with a draft from the 91st and
was posted to B Company, where he remained until 1917, when he was assigned for duty to
one of the divisional auxiliary units” In the August 1934 issue of the Communiqué, a
more detailed account of “The Towers of St Eloi” followed: “The Towers of St Eloi by Archie W Gray,
is the book which was written by the one man in the 21st who seems to have the
energy to perform that much labour. While the 21st is not mentioned in the book
it will be clear to all our old-timers who read it that the author describes the scenes
through which we passed in 1916 and 1917. Certain early actions, in the Salient, are well
covered and many details are so truly dealt with that they create a slight homesickness
for Dickebusch. The story drifts from actual experiences into fiction, losing touch with
the affairs known to our men. The book had one edition and is coming out with a second
printing. It would be worth while to any 21st man to while away a few hours in
its pages. The authors memory failed him the spelling the title which should read Mont St
Eloy although there are thousands who have passed through the town who would make the same
mistake.” In 2005 the author was able to obtain a first
edition copy of “The Towers of St Eloi”. It shows the publisher to be Gray Printing
Company, Rodney Ontario, copyright 1933. After reading it, I can only say that if you
liked “Saving Private Ryan”, you’ll hate this book. It is written in the
Zane Grey tradition of adventure stories and perhaps fitted in with the popular novels of
the day. In Rodney, I found an old Baptist Church, according to the arched stain glass window over the door. The church appeared to be lived in as a residence. Throwing propriety to the wind, I knocked on the front door and it was answered by a kindly young lass. Once I explained what I was looking for and showed her my 21sters card, she invited me in. She told me that they had purchased the place after the congregation decided to sell the church. Since then they have been renovating it to make the basement into a harness and leather workshop and the sanctuary into living quarters. It certainly looked in good repair and I was told the plaster etc was in very good condition. They didn’t seem to know much about the history of the church but they did give me a copy of the last order of service.
I recounted Archie’s life to her and she said, that there was a stained glass window with his name on it.
She also showed me a brass plate on the lectern
which commemorated the survival of some parishioners in a ship that was destroyed during
the First World War: Presented by Mr & Mrs S. J. Gilpin & Beatrice For Thanks to Almighty God In Sparing their Lives When Torpedoed on
“Hesperian” Sep 15th 1915 Rodney's Baptist Church Rodney's
Baptist Church was built in 1879 on the south corner of Powell and Munroe. The church
bought the land off of Nicol Kingsmill for $1, and the church cost about $1,300 to build.
Many of the congregation members donated the needed supplies to build the church. Many
changes have been made to the church since then; the members of the congregation supplied
all materials. Special Thanks for their kind assistance to
21sters Discussion Group in gathering the history of the 21st Battalion CEF
to James Stewart & Julie Bell |
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