Ernest Vose

Lieutenant Ernest Vos (483691) was born in England, at Bolton in Lancashire, on September 20, 1892.  He was active in his local militia, serving for 3 years with the 5th Royal North Lancashire Regiment. After his family moved to Winnipeg he served for 5 months with the 100th Regiment, Winnipeg Grenadiers. He enlisted on September 23, 1914 at Valcartier Quebec, and was assigned to the 10th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. They sailed for England on October 3 and began training on the Salisbury Plain near Stonehenge. The 10th Battalion sailed to France in April, 1915 and took part in every major Canadian offensive. Vos likely saw action at the Second Battle of Ypres, Gravenstafel, Saint-Julien, Festubert, Mont Sorrel, Somme (Sept-Oct 1916), Thiepval Ridge, Ancre Heights, Arras and Vimy. 

Assigned the rank of Private upon enlistment, Vos rose through the ranks, promoted to Corporal on Dec. 9, 1916 and Sergeant on Feb. 2, 1917. He was assigned to an officer training program in mid-April 1917, and was promoted to Lieutenant on July 1. He was then assigned to the 9th Canadian Reserve Battalion who reinforced the 10th and 43rd Battalions. However, due to attrition from injuries, it was absorbed by the 21st Canadian Reserve Battalion in October 1917. 

After four years of grime, mud, flooded trenches and enemy fire, Vos had not sustained any serious injury. However, On August 10th, 1918, all that changed when he was wounded in the right thigh during the Battle of Amiens. The bullet passed right through and fortunately did not strike the bone. Vos was taken first to Rouen for treatment, then invalided out to England as this was still a very serious injury. He was treated in several hospitals, took lots of physio to regain strength in his leg, and recovered enough after 2 months to return to France on October 12 in time to be present for the Armistice on November 11th. 

After the fighting stopped there was still much work to be done, and Vos remained in France through the winter. While he was on leave in England, he developed cellulitis (a bacterial infection of the skin) and was admitted to hospital for treatment on March 3, 1919. It proved to be a tenacious infection that kept him at various hospitals until he was finally discharged June 20th. He remained in England until September 9, when he embarked for Canada on the S. S. Orduna. He was finally demobilized on September 21, 1919. 

We Will Remember Them