Puzzle Case from Canada

[laughton]

This is an interesting case that we have been investigating across the pond. I mention it here not to repeat the case but to highlight the fact that the identification was almost incorrect because the CWGC records are incorrect. This could apply to almost any UNKNOWN case and thus it's importance is significant. I am not implying in any means that the CWGC made an error, as they relied on the facts that they were provided and it is those facts that were incorrect. They correctly reported incorrect information.

 

There are two topics about this matter now on the CEFSG Forum for those that have an interest:

 

1. Captain Lionel Ward Whitehead, 13th Bn. CEF (5th Reg. RHOC)
2. Captain: Gerald Oscar Lees 13th Bn. (5th Reg. RHOC)

 

In summary, it appeared that the remains in Tyne Cot cemetery in Plot 59 Row D Grave 12 were those of Captain Lionel Ward Whitehead (CWGC Record) who was reported to have died on 22 April 1915. He had no known grave and his name was inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial. At that time, the 13th Battalion (3rd Infantry Brigade, 1st Canadian Division) was northeast of St. Julien in the front lines at Strombeek Ridge. There was only one other Captain of the 13th battalion killed in action at that time that also had no known grave, that being Captain Gerald Oscar Lees (CWGC Record). He was reported killed on 25 April 1915, at which time the 13th Battalion had left the front lines (as did many Canadian and British units, plus fleeing Algerians!) and were now to the southwest of St. Julien. That should have meant that the remains had to be those of Captain Whitehead, as he was the only one in the area of 28.C.6.b.3.8 where the remains were found (CWGC COG-BR Record 1836372).

 

As it turned out, Captain Whitehead was reported by others in the unit (Lt. Pitblado) to have been mortally wounded (not on the 22nd but on 24 April 1915), but he was left behind because Lt. Pitblado himself was wounded. The Lieutenant then acted again to recover Major McCuaig, also wounded, however both were captured by the Germans and served out the duration of the war as "Guests of the Kaiser". The report of the action on 24 April 1915 enhanced the thought that the remains were those of Captain Whitehead, as the location is exactly where they were on the side of the Poelcapple Road when the unit was all but decimated. We would assume that Captain Lees made it out as his death is reported as 25 April 1915.

 

In the process of following the leads on the capture of Lieutenant Charles Bruce Pitblado and Major Douglas Rykert McCuaig, there was some shock to also find that Captain Whitehead had also been taken prisoner by the Germans. He was reported to have been taken to Langemark, and from that point on the case gets cold. There are however considerable ICRC records for Lt. Pitblado and Major McCuaig, both of which were repatriated back to England. Now that is a pickle, as now there are no Captains of the 13th Battalion in the area where the remains were found. Not so! The records for Captain Lees were also incorrect, he was in fact killed on the along the Poelcappelle Road on 24 April 1915, not the next day when the unit was southwest at Wieltje (well away from the area the remains were found).

 

That means the remains are those of Captain Gerald Oscar Lees. If we had relied only on the CWGC records we would have had to report the remains as being those of Captain Lionel Ward Whitehead, at which time we would have joined the rest of those that had been wrong.

 

This is the area in question, as shown in Nicholson Sketch 8: