{"id":11346,"date":"2015-05-29T05:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-05-29T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.royalmontrealregiment.com\/?p=11346"},"modified":"2015-05-29T05:00:10","modified_gmt":"2015-05-29T09:00:10","slug":"private-john-lee-first-of-three-brothers-killed-in-ww1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/private-john-lee-first-of-three-brothers-killed-in-ww1\/","title":{"rendered":"Private John Lee: First of three brothers killed in WW1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday, May\u00a029, 1915<\/i><\/p>\n

Reserve trenches,\u00a0Rue de l’Epinette<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: \u00a0“Quiet except for occasional German shells.”<\/em>[1]<\/p>\n

\n

THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY:\u00a0While the Battalion Diary indicated a quiet scene, it was not entirely peaceful.\u00a0 Three soldiers of the Battalion died that day, including Private John Lee, No. 25607.<\/p>\n

The Battalion history recounts:\u00a0 \u201cAt night on May 28th<\/sup> the enemy attacked the barricade erected by the men of the 14th<\/sup> at L8.\u00a0 Bombing and counter-bombing followed, the attackers achieving not even a measure of success.\u00a0 Later that night when the 14th<\/sup> Battalion was relieved by the 13th<\/sup> Battalion, a working party of 100 men under Lieuts. Dick Worrall and J.H. Richardson, remained to establish a line, previously\u00a0reconnoitered by Sergt. H.G. Brewer,* between K5 and the Post Office Rifles on the right.\u00a0 Some time after the relief Stretcher Bearer Lee, of the 14th<\/sup> went into No Man\u2019s Land to the assistance of a wounded German who called for help.\u00a0 Reaching the German, Lee fell wounded, whereupon two stretcher bearers of the 13th<\/sup> volunteered to bring him in.\u00a0 These bearers were in turn wounded, but before dawn all the fallen men, including the German, were brought in to the Canadian lines by Capt. W. H. Clark-Kennedy and two stretcher bearers, all of the 13th<\/sup> Battalion.\u00a0 The assistance given to Stretcher Bearer Lee on this occasion was appreciated by the officers and men of the 14th<\/sup> and served to strengthen the comradeship between the Royal Highlanders of Canada and the Royal Montreal Regiment.\u00a0 From the front line, stretcher bearers carried Lee to Indian Village, the ground being so difficult that four hours were taken to cover the few hundred yards. Unfortunately Lee\u2019s wounds were severe and he died after being evacuated from the Battalion Dressing station.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

* Sergt. Hugh Graham Brewer, later earned his commission and was a Major by the time the Battalion\u00a0returned to Canada.\u00a0 In 1940, shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, a 2nd<\/sup> (Reserve) Battalion, Royal Montreal Regiment was formed.\u00a0 Major H.G. Brewer was the initial Second-in-Command, and eventually succeeded his predecessor, Lieut.-Col. J.E. McKenna, M.C., as Commanding Officer in 1940, a post he held until November 12, 1945.<\/p>\n

PRIVATE JOHN LEE, No. 25607:\u00a0<\/strong>Private John Lee was born at Huddersfield, Yorkshire, June 21st<\/sup> 1885.\u00a0 Leaving his family behind, he emigrated to Canada, where he worked as a storeman.\u00a0 When war was declared in 1914 he immediately enlisted with the 14th<\/sup> Bn.\u00a0 As described above he sustained gun-shot wounds to his abdomen inflicted by a German sniper while recovering a wounded German soldier on May 28th<\/sup> 1915, and died of his injuries the following day.\u00a0 He is buried in Hinges Military Cemetery, France.<\/p>\n

As the war progressed there were few who had not experienced a loss, or were at least close to someone who had.\u00a0 There are numerous examples of families who lost 3, 4 or 5 sons in battle during the war.\u00a0 The Lee family was no exception.\u00a0 John Lee\u2019s younger brother, Private Henry Lee of the Imperial Army Cyclists Corps died of wounds October 20th <\/sup>1917.\u00a0 Another brother, Sergeant Stephen Hargill Lee, DCM and Bar, 2\/5th Duke of Wellington\u2019s Regiment who enlisted on the day war broke out in 1914, was killed on November 7th<\/sup> 1918, age 24, just four days before the Armistice. He had been awarded the DCM for \u201cconspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 The trauma for their parents Henry and Ada Lee can only be imagined. \u00a0\u00a0Pte. John Lee also left a wife, who with his parents lived in Huddersfield, Yorkshire.\u00a0 [3]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"29<\/a>Twenty years after John Lee\u2019s death, his mother received an unusual message.<\/p>\n

\u201cLondon, March 5, 1935.\u00a0 The diary of one of her sons, who was killed in the war while serving in a Canadian regiment, has just been received by Mrs. Lee of Luck Lane, Marsh Huddersfield.\u00a0Mrs. Lee received a postcard a fortnight ago from a man named Hohlstein of Pirmasens, a small town in Bavaria, on which he stated that he wished to forward the diary.\u00a0 She has now received it with this letter:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cDear Mrs. Lee:\u00a0 I found the diary of your son on the 28th<\/sup> or 29th<\/sup> of May 1915, in a house at St. Julien, near Ypres.\u00a0 The Canadian regiment had left the village as we stormed it.\u00a0 The book will be a sad memory for you, especially as you offered your Fatherland your five sons.\u201d<\/p>\n

The diary belonged to Mrs. Lee\u2019s second son, John, of the 1st<\/sup> Royal Montreal Regiment, who was wounded on May 28, 1915, and died the following day.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [5]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0 War Diary, 14th<\/sup> Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment<\/em>, May 29, 1915.\u00a0 Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa\u00a0http:\/\/data2.collectionscanada.ca\/e\/e044\/e001089734.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[2]\u00a0\u00a0 R.C. Featherstonhaugh, The Royal Montreal Regiment 14th<\/sup> Battalion C.E.F. 1914-1925<\/em>, Montreal, The Gazette Printing Co., Ltd., 1927, pg. 60.<\/pre>\n
[3] \u00a0J. Margaret Stansfield, \u201cHuddersfield's roll of honour: 1914-1922,\u201d University of Huddersfield Press, Huddersfield, 2014\u00a0http:\/\/eprints.hud.ac.uk\/21278\/1\/Introduction_FINAL.pdf<\/a><\/pre>\n
[4]\u00a0 \u201cWar Diary Returned \u2013 Sent Mother of Canadian Soldier by German,\u201d The Globe (1844-1936),<\/em> Toronto, Ontario, March 6, 1935, pg. 9, col. 1.<\/pre>\n
[5]\u00a0\u00a0 Ibid.<\/pre>\n
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