John Nadler - Valour Road

ALSO BY JOHN NADLER

Searching for Sofia

A Perfect Hell

JOHN NADLER

FOR THE VALOUR ROAD CHILDREN

GAIL CARGO, LEO CLARKE JR., RICHARD CLARKE,

AND JOAN HALL PAULSETH

CONTENTS

Winnipeg, November 2012

Winnipeg, August 1914

Winnipeg, 1914

Fred and Harry Hall, April 1915

Fred Hall, April 1915

Charlie Clarke, May 1915

Charlie Clarke, June 1915

Charlie Clarke, June 1915

Charlie Clarke, JuneSeptember 1915

Charlie and Leo Clarke, SeptemberNovember 1915

Charlie and Leo Clarke, December 1915January 1916

Charlie and Leo Clarke, JanuaryFebruary 1916

John Pringle and Frederick George Scott, 19141916

Charlie and Leo Clarke, MarchApril 1916

Charlie and Leo Clarke, AprilMay 1916

Robert Shankland, June 1916

Charlie and Leo Clarke, JuneAugust 1916

Charlie and Leo Clarke, September 1916

Leo Clarke, September 1916

Families of Soldiers, SeptemberNovember 1916

Charlie Clarke, September 1916

Charlie and Leo Clarke, October 1916

Charlie Clarke, October 1916

Bob Shankland, October 1917

Charlie Clarke, December 1918

The Great War Generation

PROLOGUE

Winnipeg, November 2012

N ovember 11, 2012, should have been a fine autumn daycomfortably cool, the air tinged with the smell of burning leaves, and elm trees bearing the fall colours of orange and amber. But the day that dawned was extraordinary. During the previous night, an early winter storm had descended on the city. By daybreak, temperatures had toppled to eight below zero, and twenty centimetres of ice and snow blanketed the ground. The severity of the storm stunned even lifelong residents of Winterpeg, a community infamous for its frigid climate. And on that morning, many in this city of 730,018 people could be forgiven for peeking at the polar wasteland outside their windows and choosing to remain indoors, instead of attending the ceremonies scheduled at the convention centre, the legislative building, McGregor Armoury, Minto Amoury, and Vimy Ridge Memorial Park, among other venues.

November 11, of course, is Remembrance Day, a day when Canadians reflect on the men and women who serve and have served in the nations armed forces. For most, it is a time to remember those who fought and, in too many cases, died in the two world wars of the last century. Indeed, the first of these global conflicts, the Great War, which ended on November 11, 1918, gave rise to Remembrance Day. But as important as this day is to Winnipeggers, the storm of November 2012 threatened to trap patriots in their homes.

However, there was one gathering where no amount of ice or snow could keep people away. That morning, a disparate band of Winnipeggers, representing all walks of life, bundled up and trudged to the memorial that stands in a plaza at the corner of Sargent Avenue and a lane originally known as Pine Street, in the citys West End. Some were soldiers: cadets, reservists, and active-service personnel from the locally based Thirty-Eighth Canadian Brigade Group. Most of the active soldiers wore dress uniforms, and a few revealed the family nature of this gathering by holding children in their arms. Some were veterans, the aged warriors of the Second World War, who shivered in the plaza alongside much younger survivors of Canadas more recent conflict in Afghanistan.

Neighbours from the West End were also present. They included teachers, blue-collar workers, homemakers, retirees, and children. And everyonesoldier and civilian alikewas solemn. They knew that they stood upon hallowed ground. This memorial celebrated the heroism of three men, Leo Clarke, Robert Shankland, and Frederick Hall, who in 1914 lived on Pine Street, a short distance away. When the Great War broke out in August that year, these men answered the call and marched off in the name of Canada and the Empire. In different battles at different times, Clarke, Shankland, and Hall faced horrific and daunting challenges, and met them with such heroism that each man was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Not every Canadian now understands the significance of the VC. Its a medal, but not an especially fancy one. One Canadian radio commentator admitted that the Victoria Cross isnt really much to look at.

Theres the bit of dark red ribbon and the small, bronze crossnot gleaming gold as youd think, but quite black. You can just make out the royal crest in the centre, and underneath, the scroll with the words For Valour.

But ever since Queen Victoria presented the first VC in 1856, it has been the most prestigious battlefield decoration of Britain and those Commonwealth countries fighting under the Union Jack. Today, Canada issues its own version of the VC. In the past, deserving Canadian soldiers were eligiblebut only the most deserving. Just ninety-six Canadians have ever been given this honour, and, incredibly, three of these menClarke, Shankland, and Halllived as neighbours on a single Winnipeg street inter-secting the plaza where this Remembrance Day service was taking place.

Gathering in this neighbourhood on Remembrance Day to honour these three men had become tradition in Winnipeg. But for eighty-four-year-old Leo Clarke Jr., nephew of one of the heroes, it was much more than that. Leo Jr. was re-enacting a ritual that his family had been observing for eighty-seven years, ever since the first neighbourhood memorial went up in 1925.

When Leo Jr.s father, Charles, was alive, his familys observance of Remembrance Day began in the basement of their old family house, located a short distance away. Father and son polished medals, and then cleaned a Colt service revolver that had last been fired at the Battle of the Somme. During these moments, the Clarkes said little, but their thoughts revolved around the original Leo Clarke. For the father, Leo was a lost brother. For the son, he was a namesake and an uncle he never knew. On Remembrance Day, the Clarkes would take part in a neighbourhood service. With each year, this local observance expanded until it had become an event that drew patriots and pilgrims from across the city and country.

On November 11, 2012, as the hour of 11 A.M. approached, Leo Clarke Jr. and his family, which included his wife of almost sixty years as well as grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, stood front and centre before the memoriala statue of three soldiers in silhouette. Everyone watched as Leos son Paul took his place behind a microphone. Bareheaded in the cold, Paul Clarke read the official citation for the Victoria Cross given to his great uncle. It told the story of a violent skirmish in France in 1916, and an astonishing act of heroism that won the day.

When Paul finished, others stepped forward and read out the citations for Frederick Hall and Robert Shankland. As with Leo Clarke, these official records were eloquent and short. They told how Fred Hall had defied enemy fire and the poisonous air of Ypres to save the life of a comrade, and how Robert Shankland had almost single-handedly turned defeat near the ravaged Belgian village of Passchendaele into a stunning victory.

After the citations were read, the clock struck the hour, and the crowd fell silent. Some in attendance imagined these men, and wondered how they had lived and fought. Others turned their thoughts to other soldiers in other wars. A few, no doubt, remembered relatives who had served their country. But some who had listened to the stories of Clarke, Shankland, and Hall must have wondered what more was known about these men. What forces had formed and driven them to their prodigious feats?