100 YEARS AGO TODAY: The March to the Rhine - Day 1.

Several men will be focused on during The March to the Rhine - The Allied Occupation of Germany, beginning with Canadian Corps Commander Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie.

Lieutenant Abner Gladstone Virtue, adjutant for the 61st Field Battery, who has been suffering from the Chinese Flu for some time now, and will not be participating in the march (he remains in daily contact with the battery).  Lt Virtue will eventually recover and catch up with the men of the 61st Battery in Vingst, two days after the end of the march.

A/Bbdr Richard Francis Walshe, my grandfather, also attached to the 61st Field Battery is on the march and will have his near-death experience with the epidemic following his return to Belgium. 

Regimental Sergeant Major James Kay of the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion - The Canadian Scottish Regiment, also in the march, will not be as lucky as my grandfather, succumbing to the deadly strain on the same day he peels off parade in Antheit, Belgium, 18th February 1919.

The infantry begins their advance to the Rhine, with blankets and kits carried in wagons, on the heels of the cavalry which had set out the day before, Monday, 18th November 1918

James Kay and wife Annie

Regimental Sergeant Major James Kay

James Kay and family
 

Canadian Corps

16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), 3rd Inf. Bde, C.E.F.

5th Canadan Divisional Artillery, C.E.F.

14th Brigade Canadian Field Artillery

61st Field Battery, C.F.A., 5th C.D.A., C.E.F.

Lt Virtue 61st Field Battery
No entry today

60th Field Battery, C.F.A., 5th C.D.A., C.E.F.