‘IT REALLY WAS THE BIRTH OF A COUNTRY’
As Canada prepares to mark the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge, the heroes of the key First World War battle are being honoured in Alberta and across the country.
John George Pattison didn’t go to war seeking valour or fame, though, in the end, he found both.
He left Calgary and sailed for France more than 100 years ago for a single purpose — to save his 16-year-old son, who had lied about his age and enlisted in the 50th battalion of the Canadian Corps.
He managed that feat — his son, Henry, survived that war and would serve in the Canadian military for decades afterwards.
Of course, Pattison never knew his mission would ultimately be successful — he was killed June 3, 1917. But he’d done his best: explaining to Army brass that his son was legally underage and therefore should be kept from the front lines.
There was no such leeway for the father, however. He’d been a labourer for a utility company in Calgary before joining and had hoped to return to that work one day, alongside his boy.
Fate had other things in store. That hand was unveiled at Vimy Ridge where Pattison would become one of the oldest men ever to be awarded the Victoria Cross.
An extract from The London Gazette in 1917 told the tale.
“When the advance of our troops was held up by an enemy machine gun, which was inflicting severe casualties, Pte. Pattison, with utter disregard of his own safety, sprang forward and, jumping from shellhole to shell-hole, reached cover within 30 yards of the enemy gun. From this point, in face of heavy fire, he hurled bombs, killing and wounding some of the crew, then rushed forward overcoming and bayonetting the surviving five gunners. His valour and initiative undoubtedly saved the situation and made possible the further advance to the objective.”
Not bad for a man of 41 who stood five-foot-two.
Sadly, though Pattison survived Vimy, seven weeks later he was killed in a nearby action.
Yet, not only did his son live but Pattison’s name also endured. Everyone who drives over the Elbow River on the Pattison Bridge would do well to recall that middle-aged, and no doubt exasperated, father who went to war because of the impetuous nature of youth.
For Mike Mountain Horse of the Blood tribe in southern Alberta, it was brotherly love that led him to Vimy.
His brother, Albert, had died serving overseas, so Mountain Horse decided to enlist and avenge his younger sibling. He’d fight and survive Vimy, as well as the later major battles of Hill 70 and Passchendaele.
When he returned to Alberta he created a story robe — a pictorial representation of his experiences overseas. A replica of that robe, along with Mountain Horse’s traditional headdress, will be on display at Calgary’s Military Museums as a major exhibit on Vimy and the battles that followed opens April 9.
It will be the first time all the regiments represented in the various museums, along with the air force and navy, will combine on a single project, a 40,000-square-foot exhibit called War Stories 1917, which runs through Aug. 25.
Senior curator Rory Cory said War Stories will examine three major conflicts of that pivotal year involving the Canadian Corps, from Vimy through Hill 70 and Passchendaele.
“It is the first time we have all pooled our resources together for a common show.
“We want to tell the story about how successful we were and how we basically became the shock troops for the Commonwealth forces and how that evolved over the course of these three battles, telling the story of some of the technical and tactical innovations and the establishment of a coherent Canadian Corps,” said Cory.
He said the display will focus on some remarkable southern Albertans, men such as Mountain Horse and Pattison, who fought at Vimy and beyond. Included among the artifacts on display will be Pattison’s Victoria Cross, on loan from the Glenbow Museum, and the Canadian red ensign flag flown at Vimy, which is arriving from the Imperial War Museum in England.
We want to tell the story about how successful we were and how we basically became the shock troops for the Commonwealth forces and how that evolved over the course of these three battles.