Person Page - 1367

RENWICK
     Frank. W. Renwlck of Geneva, Ill., April 11, father of George of Geneva, Frank of Colorado Sprlngs, and Mrs. Ruth Watt of Hinsdale, Ill. Funeral Wednesday, 2:30 p.m., at Skoglund chapel, 201 James street, Geneva. Interment Elgin.⁹

George R. Hargraft, a prominent resident of Toronto, and a brother of the late Alex. Hargraft, former well known member of the Winnipeg grain Exchange, died recently in Toronto. Mr. Hargraft was born in Cobourg, Ont., in 1856, the son of William Hargraft. former member of the Ontario legislature, and was educated there. He had been general agent at Toronto of the Commercial Union Assurance company, London, Eng., since 1900. He was a member of many Toronto athletic associations..³

Births
MILLAR
In London, Eng., on Tuesday, January 11, 1921, to Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. (sic) Millar (nee Nora MacNachtan), a son.⁶

Cobourg World Letter: 1915 March 26th

By kind permission of Col. Neil F. MacNachtan, C.V.D., we are allowed to publish the following letter from his son, who is at the Front in France.

France,
March 2nd, 1915.

and came out with a whole skin. A few of the men were chosen from each Canadian Brigade to go out to the firing line to see how things were done and I was one of the lucky ones. The infantry were attached, so many to a battalion of the imperials and we were attached to different royal field batteries.

We were shelled three or four times but there were no casualties among the two batteries we were with, although some shells burst decidedly, and I may add, unpleasantly close. I also spent one night up in the trenches with the infantry and had several shots at the German trenches with a rifle. I only saw one German, he stuck his head and shoulders above the parapet long enough for me to take a snip at him. I squirted dirt over him but I do not think that I hit him, however he stayed down the rest of the time I was out there. There was one poor Canadian shot within a few yards of me. It was a horrible sickening sound to hear a bullet hit a man. The bullet struck him on the right side of the neck and came out through his left shoulder. It looked like a dum-dum for there was a hole larger than my clenched fist where it came out. Half a dozen bullets struck the sandbags over my head, but they might as well been miles away. At first I ducked, instinctively, every time a rifle cracked or a bullet whistled near me, but it is wonderful how quickly one becomes accustomed to it. After a few moments of it, one doesn't pay any attention to them.

When I was going out to the trenches the brutes turned a maxim loose down a railroad that we had to walk along. There were bullets buzzing around us like bees.

To go back a few weeks. We had a rather exciting trip across in a rotten little cattle boat; it pitched and rolled like a cork a good many of those on board are sick, but either I am lucky, or a good sailor, anyway I refused to feed the fish. We were tumbled into box cars, and had a beautiful two days ride. The railway at its worst can't hold a candle to that railroad. I thought we were off the track and running along the sleepers. It was great!

There is not much going on at present, practically all sniping. The Germans have some wonderful shots among them, although they are not, as an army any better shots than our Tommies. The swine usually fire a few shells over just at meal hours or as the men are going to bed. Then it is 'Stand to' for perhaps an hour and break off or on lucky occasions a few rounds are fired back. It is wonderful the small attention paid to bullets and shellbursts. Men and women walk along roads and streets apparently quite unconcerned. One day we got a 'stand to.' There was a man ploughing right behind the guns, a good many shells were bursting in the field in which he was working but he paid no attention until one burst really close to him. He looked at us, laughed shrugged his shoulders, French fashion, and calmly proceeded to unhook his horses and get out without any hurry or fuss. Is there anything one cannot become accustomed to?

We are limited to two letters per week per man which is rather a hardship.

EDMUND L. MacNACHTAN.¹⁰

Cobourg World Letter: 1915 April 16th

Letter from Sergeant Edmund L. MacNachtan, son of Lt. Col. Neil F. MacNachtan, C. V. O. Cobourg, Ontario

France, 22nd March, 1915

This is the first opportunity I have had to sit down and write a real letter for months, so I am going to take advantage of it (Germans permitting).

I was down to our wagon lines when I last wrote (March 2nd) but now I am up within a few hundred yards of our trenches. We have a 'forward gun' (which is a pleasant little surprise for the Germans in case they should break through our infantry). In case we should open fire, it is a good deal of a 'forlorn hope.' We cannot come into action until after our own infantry have fallen back to a line of trenches beside our gun. This would allow the enemy to get within a few hundred yards of the gun before we can fire. You can imagine how long we would last. The orders read ?To serve gun untill ordered to retire, then retreat with sight, elino and breeck.' They should read 'serve gun until the crew is dead and then retreat,'

There is a sniper very close to us and he pays us a great deal of attention, he was so close to our gun one night and the house we sleep in that I could hear the empty shells from his rifle click on the ground when he rejected them. He put me down on m face six times between the gun and the house we sleep in, a distance of probably two hundred yards, while I was mounting my guard.

We have all had many narrow escapes from the brute. I have been out two or three times looking for him but we cannot locate him. He has a mighty snug retreat wherever he is. We cannot see a flash from his rifle and only a very subdued report from his rifle. He probably has a silencer.

The 4th Battery have been very highly complimented on its shooting by Colonel Morrison. We have raised the ******* with the German trenches. We put a shell right under one of their guns and blew it up. The German artillery open up on our batteries or trenches; we put up with it for a while then we get mad and go after them; we retaliate by blowing great gaps in their trenches and entanglements. We fire over the heads of our Canadian Infantry, some of whom have told us that the effect of our fire is wonderful. We give to them in salvos and the infantry tell us that they cannot see the trenches for smoke of our shell bursts. When it lifts there are great stretches of the parapet blown away and they can see Germans scuttling in all directions for cover like rabbits.

We celebrate St. Patrick's Day in great state. It was the biggest day's work we have had since we came up to this position, the noise was deafening. I was out here at the 'forward gun', quite a number of German shells burst close to us; there were four in particular. 'Coal Boxes' or 'Jack Johnsons' , one burst about 40 yards beyond us and one about twenty or thirty yards short but dead 'on line' for our shack, two others dropped unpleasantly near us but failed to explode. We could hear the brutes coming long before they reached us; they make a dull sort of rumble like a locomotive. It is a creepy sensation to know they have you in a 'hundred yard bracket,' have a line on you and you are waiting for the next round to blow you to pieces. However, that 'next round' did not come, the one that burst short of us threw huge clouds of earth over us in showers. There 'Coal Boxes' get their name from the sooty deposit they leave on the sides of the hole made by the burst. The 'pets' they have fired at us are either six inch or eight inch, weighing ninety to 120 pounds and filled with high explosive. Thereby hangs a tale or rather a joke. One dropped across the road from our billet; this particular one fell between two infantry officers who were standing talking. The concussion of draught (or perhaps pure scare) knocked one of them down, but neither was hurt, not even a scratch. We dug up the shell which had gone fourteen feet into the ground took the 'sting' in other words the percussion primer off and soaked the shell in water for two days before examining it. What do you suppose we found in it? Instead of the deadly high explosive compound we found one quarter of a pound of ordinary black powder - they had forgotten to fill it. This shell goes back to Canada to be placed in Cobourg Armoury. They (the enemy) have the billet at the battery registered, dropped 14 Pro Shrapnal on us the other day. You should see the place. The tile roof is conspicuous by its absence of tiles, the floors and doors are riddled with holes from shrapnel bullets and nearly every pane of glass broken. Apart from this they did not do much damage. One of our fellows was struck by a bullet near the eye and one of the rifles has a splinter as big as the end of a finger embedded in the stock. You should have seen the scrimmage, men came shooting out of windows, doors and haystacks on the jump. We had to laugh in spite of being scared stiff.

No parcels have yet reached me. Please send me a pound of Hudson Bay tobacco, two pipes, some cigarettes and some Canadian matches. It is impossible to buy anything smokeable here and our issues are very small.

I saw Major Beattie a couple of days ago. He looks very well and seems to be getting fat on this life. He is very popular among the men. I also met Major A.E. Kirkpatrick, of the Queen's Own, who wished to be remembered to you.

Regarding the Battery work there is not much to tell you. The drivers are a couple of miles behind us. We have just a gun crew, a few spanes and a couple of cooks up here. Concealed positions are used of course. We have built very solid gun Epaulments at this position with sand bags, sods and brush, even planted trees for concealment. The wagon and limber are placed on either side of the gun, then we build up the walls on the sides about four feet high with sods and sand bags, put a frame work 2' x 4' on top and covered with sods and sand bags so that we have a very snug and very protective gun position.

There are a couple of splinter-proofs behind us in case of a heavy bombardment. It is a splendid position, the fact that we have never been 'found' goes to prove it, although several shells have burst about us. It is all 'indirect method' with aiming points, angles are worked out with bearings taken with Prismatic compass, so we cannot see the effect of our fire, maps are used most exclusively. We have Observing Officers in the infantry trenches who control our fire by telephone. Aeroplanes are used a great deal for observation. There are three or four flying above us all the time. They are fired at a good deal by the anti-aircraft guns somewhere in the German trenches in front of us but cannot locate them. They have not done any damage to our machines while we have been up here, in fact their shooting seems very wild.

We get orders at all hours to 'stand to.' 'Major Halston sends his best regards.

EDMUND L. MacNACHTAN.
4th Battery, 1st. Brigade. C.F.A.¹⁰

Cobourg World Letter: 1915 May 21st

Belgium, April 30th, 1915

To Lieut-Col. N.F. MacNachtan, C.V.O.

I wonder if news of what is going on here has reached you yet, if so, you will be terribly anxious. When the General told us we would get it very much hotter here than we had previously experienced, he was dead right. How it is that any of us are still alive is beyond me. It is nothing short of a miracle.

We have been under fire, heavy artillery, for eight days. On Tuesday it was terrific. They started at us with what is known as 'whistling willies,' they are about a fourteen pound shell and are used for ranging. After they got us in a 'twenty-five yard bracket' they started in with high explosives, then things started to happen. The air was simply full of shells, splinters, smoke and blinding choking sickening fumes. A fuse came through the shield of our gun without touching anyone, the same thing happened at No.3 gun, a shell came through No.2 but did not burst until it struck the ground at the trail. No one at No.2 gun was touched but one of the crew at No.1 gun was hit in the shoulder by a splinter. I forgot to say that two guns of the 5th Battery got lost so they attached themselves to our battery. They (the 5th) lost one killed and three wounded. We had one killed and six wounded, one of the latter rather seriously. The man killed was sergeant Boone of Peterborough, an awful fine fellow. Bert Munn was rather badly wounded in the legs (Died).

I hope it will never be my lot to go through another such experience; it lasted nearly all day.

The sensation of sitting behind those guns, just waiting for a shell to strike was terrible. None of us expected to get out, how we came through it all is beyond me.

The men behaved like heroes, every man stuck to his post; there wasn't a quitter among them. We kept on firing as if nothing unusual was happening. Don't get the impression, dad, that we weren't frightened. I am not ashamed to say that I was scared stiff. I think everyone else was, too, but it does not necessarily follow that we were cowards. Probably we will never have another such experience. God knows, I hope not, our nerves are pretty well shattered.

Next morning the 'swine' started at us again; they fired a couple of the same high explosives at us to make sure they had us. Then we heard a rustling noise coming our way. It sounded like a street car exactly, that was all that was needed. We got orders to get out and out we got and take it from me, we didn't lose any time in the 'getting.' We sat down about 100 yards away and watched the 'brutes' start in to finish our poor guns. One of these tremendous shells hit the footboard of our wagon bodily, the whole wagon shot up in the air and there was a regular display of fireworks when the ammunition in it started to go. The gun was blown into an unrecognizable mass of twisted steal. A shell exploded very close to every one of our guns, but only ours, (No. 1) was damaged. We shifted that night.

There has been a terrible struggle going on in front of us for a week. Our poor Canadians have made an undying name, but at what a cost. Our infantry has been very badly cut up and there have been many casualties among our Artillery.

The British troops can't say enough that is good about our infantry; they tell us that nothing stops them they do not know what fear is.
I saw Major Beattie (Chaplain of the first Brigade, Infantry) yesterday. He held a burial service at poor Dicky Boone's burial. The Major looks and seem very well but his nerves are pretty well shaken, like the rest of us, the strain is beginning to tell.

The din about us cannot be imagined; it is like bedlam; dozens of our batteries firing, a fast as they can load and fire, with hundreds of the shells from the Germans contribute to kick-up an ear-splitting row all day long.

Our Battery (4th, 1st Brigade) has been doing wonderful work. Our shooting is very accurate. On Monday last we fired nearly twelve hundred rounds in two hours. Isn't that 'going some.'

I do not know anything else to tell you. The situation seems to change very little out in front of us. One day we made a gain and the next the Germans. This promises to be the biggest battle of the war.
The weather is beautiful, far too fine for such work as we are at.
Au revoir and don't worry,

E.L. MacNACHTAN, Sergeant.
4th Battery, 1st Brigade, C.F.A.¹¹

Cobourg World Letter: 1915 May 28th

BELGIUM, May 5th, 1915.

My Dear Dad:
1 was greatly relieved to get your letter to-night. It was sometime since 1 heard from you and 1 was beginning to feel anxious. I am glad to hear that everything is O.K. Your letter of the 14th of April and Nora's of 12th with a few lines on the back reached me to-night.
I'm sorry that you are not getting my letters, Dad, for I have written regularly and particularly so since we came up here, for I realize the anxiety of those at home just at present. I suppose several letters of mine will reach you together.

We were rushed up to this position on the 23rd of April, the day after the Germans got through by the use of that diabolical gas. We rode up in broad daylight, perhaps that will show you how badly we were needed. If the amount of artillery that is up here now had been behind our Canadian Infantry, they would not have been so badly cut up. They made an everlasting name for themselves and for Canada, but they paid a terrific price for it. The effects of this gas are pitiful to see, a great many of the victims passed us on their way back for treatment. They are practically blind and nearly smothered.

We got into action about 4:30 in the afternoon of 23rd. No digging in or no cover except that afforded by a very thin hedge. As soon as we got our lines laid out we started into 'Gun Fire'. The way we pumped shells at them was glorious to see. The infantry in front of us say that our fire effect wasn't human. It was hell. They told us there was a sheet of flame all along the parapets of the German trenches from the bursting of our shells. The second day, we fired between twelve and fourteen hundred rounds in two hours. We worked all day and the whole of the nights were spent in digging. It was an act of Providence that we got the opportunity to dig, for the German artillery found us and they sure did find us too. We were firing about thirty minute intervals when a high explosive burst about 100 yards in front of us and then about 100 yards behind, two more got us in the 25 yard bracket, then I knew we were in for it. Their line was perfect, right in the centre of the battery, after that it was whiz! bang! all day and we started to have men hit. I swear the shells were not more that two feet above our gun wagons, which we use for protection. I stood up to take some shell out of the wagon body when one went whiz over my head. I felt the rush of air and the concussion as distinctly as one feels the discharge of one of our own guns when near it. I told you the last of the day's happenings in my last letter.

Major Beattie came to see us that afternoon. It was from him that we got the idea of what was in front of us. I think we gave the Germans a very fair repetition of what they gave our poor boys the previous day. We made a direct hit on a German gun and put the whole business up in the air, that evens the score with them, they blew up one of ours - the very one I was working at, by the way.

It is about the same thing every day, quiet for a while then all our Batteries open up and between the noise of their explosion and that of the German shells of all sizes, it is indeed a bedlam.

One of our boys had a shell explode directly under him, it threw him ten or twelve feet in the air and apart from a bad bruising and shaking up, he is very little hurt. We are beginning to call ours the 'Lucky 4th' - long may it continue.

They shelled our billet day before yesterday. I think they were searching for the Battery, they did not find it but they found our poor hut. It was blown full of holes. Splinters from those big shells fly for a quarter of, yes for half a mile. I saw one of the 'coal boxes' burst under a French ammunition wagon. It was a long way off, but through my glasses it seemed to lift wagon, limber horses and men completely clear of the ground. I fear it killed or wounded all the horses and men. The big shells are 17 inches in diameter. The English Tommies call them 'tram Cars: from the peculiar rumbling roar they make flying through the air. It is exactly like a tram-car or street car as we Canadians call them.

It is getting dark and my head is aching from the 'daily row' so au revoir.

E.L. MacNACHTAN
4th Battery, 1st Brigade, C.F.A.¹⁰

Appointed to Command the 14th Field Battery
We understand that Capt. Ted MacNachtan, son of Col. N. F. MacNachtan, C.V.O., has been appointed to the command of the 14th Field Battery, with the rank of Major. Capt. MacNachtan, who went overseas in the ranks in 1914 with the 4th Battery, C.F.A., obtained his captaincy overseas. He is now in the military hospital at Kingston, recovering from a gunshot wound in the arm. We congratulate him on his well-deserved appointment. -- Sentinel-Star.¹²