2 Rutland men killed in fighting 100 years ago

Two men from Kelowna were killed 100 years ago today in fighting leading up to the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Harry Clower, a rancher from Rutland, was a private in the 54th Battalion (Kootenay) when he was killed in action on the slopes of Vimy Ridge.

Like many of the men who volunteered for service in Kelowna, Clower had been born in England. He had returned home to England to enlist and was 31 years old when he died.

Also killed a century ago today was Fred Plowman, a 21-year-old, who had been born in B.C.

“Rutland is plunged into grief again this week by a report which came in last Sunday to Mrs. Plowman that her son Fred was killed at the front,” The Kelowna Record newspaper reported on April 12, 1917.

“Fred was only a young fellow of 21 and had practically grown up in the neighbourhood. Both his father and brother are over in England at the present moment, the former with the Foresters and the latter with the 172nd.

“Accustomed as we are becoming to the killing and wounding of young men, the whole sympathy of the district will go out to Mrs. Plowman in her sorrow.”

The Daily Courier is running articles on the eight men from Kelowna who died during the five weeks leading up to the Battle of Vimy Ridge, April 9-12, 1917.

During the battle itself, 17 men from the Okanagan were killed.