Signaller Mitchell Tells of Stiring Night at Otterpool

HE AND HIS HORSE ESCAPE UNHURT
 
But He Declares Experience Was
Most Horrible He Had Ever
Undergone in His Life

E.D. Mitchell, a former St. Thomas boy, writing to his folks at Eden, Ont., from Otterpool Camp, England, gives some very interesting detail of his experience when the Germans bombarded that camp from Zeppelins.  Signaller Mitchell was at one time connected with the grocery firms here of Swinn Bros., J.A. McCance, Egan Bros. and Butler Bros., and will be remembered by a large number of friends. For the last five or six years he has travelled for the Swift Canadian Company out of Winnipeg and Nelson, B.C. He enlisted last June at Winnipeg, and is with the Headquarters Staff, Fifth Artillery Brigade, Second Canadian Division, as signaller and dispatch rider. In his letter he writes:

The turn of the 20th century saw many a young Englishman come to our area to make a new life for himself. Thomas Richard Young was among those who ventured forth from Bournemouth, Hampshire, to the Aylmer area here in Elgin County  in the spring of 1909.  By 1911, he was working on the farm of Leslie and Helen Cameron in Bayham Township south east of Aylmer.  Tom then took up the challenge of going west and on October 23, 1915 he enlisted for service overseas.

The Halifax Explosion December 6, 1917 was the largest man-made explosion until the nuclear era. There are many excellent resources about this event. What follows are the memories of two St. Thomas men writing home to their parents in the aftermath. Seaman Gunner James A. Cluskey and Seaman Owen George Young were serving in the navy as members of the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve (the precursor to the 'Wavy Navy'). They were witnesses to the catastrophe and the aftermath.

Avis Dolphin came to Canada with her recently widowed mother before the First World War. They moved into 46 William Street and Avis attended Wellington Street School. When she was twelve, her mother decided to send her back to England to finish her education. So, despite the fact that the much touted phrase "we'll be home for Christmas" [1914] did not prove true, Avis traveled to New York with two nurse companions, Miss Hilda Ellis and Miss Sarah Smith, to board the Lusitania on May 1st 1915.  Seven days later she was tossed into the sea and had to fend for herself.

Parts of the letter that she wrote to her mother on May 10th from the Waverley Hotel in Dublin, Ireland were published in the St. Thomas Journal and appear below.

The Following Letter from Lance-Corporal A.l. Satchell, was written to his mother Mrs. Emma Satchell, 52 Maple Street. He left with the 91st Battalion and is now with the 12th Reserve Battalion. His sisters are Mrs. A.W. Osborne, Fifth Avenue, Mrs. Wall, 60 Chestnut Street and Mrs. H. Osborne, 52 Maple Street.          

St. Thomas Journal Sept 15, 1916