MATTHEW ARCHER
MATTHEW ARCHER LOOKED around him — at the silent bodies of his dead Lewis gun crew mates and at his wounded friends who were crying for help — and was faced with a decision: retreat, or fight.
He chose to fight and by doing so saved the lives of many of his fellow soldiers.
Archer, a native of Bradford, Ontario, won the Military Medal during the Battle of Vimy Ridge for single-handedly repelling a succession of German counterattacks. For forty-eight hours he manned his Lewis gun — scrounging the pockmarked muddy ground for ammunition.
After the battle, he was promoted to sergeant and quickly developed a reputation for caring deeply about the men under his command.
That’s why his death, on August 17, 1917, came as such a blow to his brothers in arms. Archer had been making the rounds through the trenches near Lens, France, when an enemy shell directly struck his position, killing him instantly. In a letter home to his mother, Jessie, a Captain Aiken wrote, “From the Colonel on down, we all feel his loss terribly. His actions on Vimy Ridge will long be talked about in this battalion.”