175 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca POLLON, Arthur Roy WWI Arthur was born on February 27, 1895, on the SW 12-16-18 in Minto Municipality. He was educated at the Clanwilliam School. Art enlisted in the Army duringWorldWar I and fought in France and at the battle and capture of Vimy Ridge. In the Pollon Family History Book, there is an article by the Minnedosa Tribune dated April 1982. It features a photograph of Art Pollon and Gordon Wilson, Veteran of the bloody battle of Vimy Ridge.They are pictured talking about their memories of the Good Friday assault, 65 years before. Both Veterans were in their 87th year.They recalled some events of April 9, 1917, and the days that followed when the Ridge represented the German Army’s strongest position in Northern France. Art was in the first wave over the top on April 9, and although the first line of defence had been weakened by a barrage of covering fire, one of the first casualties was Art’s boyhood friend and school companion, Harold Cook. There were 1,150 men in Art’s unit on the Good Friday assault. When they were relieved, 96 answered the roll call. There were 1,054 casualties. Art was first attached to the 78th Winnipeg Grenadiers and Gordon was with the 44th Battalion. During the Battle of the Somme, it was the first time that all Canadians fighting in France had come together as a single unit. Vimy Ridge was a natural barrier rising 200 feet and protected an area in which key mines and factories were in full production for the German war machine. There were many attacks on this strategic landmark and two years earlier more than 130,000 French soldiers were either killed or wounded in costly attempts to recover the area. Art and Gordon agreed that “there are not many of us left (1982)”. The Minnedosa Tribune continues: “But true also are the words of Brigadier General Alexander Ross, which now span 65 years: ‘At zero hour the barren earth erupted humanity. From dug out, shell holes and trenches, men sprang into action, fell into artillery formations, and advanced to the Ridge, every Division of the Corps moving forward together. It was Canada and the Atlantic to the Pacific on parade. I thought then that in those few moments I had witnessed the birth of a nation’.” Art was later wounded in the right wrist (not at Vimy). A piece of shrapnel went right though his wrist. He was returned to England to recuperate and was then sent back into action in France. After the end of World War I, Art returned to Canada, was discharged, and went back to farming in the Clanwilliam area. Arthur worked for his brother, Joe, in Arran, Saskatchewan. He worked on the farm where he met and married Bertha Eiffert in 1923, in Benito, Manitoba. They moved to Clanwilliam to farm and raised six children: Douglas, Lorne, Walter, Harold, Florence, and Hazel. Following the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Veteran’s Guard of Canada in 1940, and was stationed in several locations in Canada, including Lake Audy. In the Riding Mountain National Park, where he guarded German Prisoners of War. The prisoners were well cared for and sawed a lot of wood in the Park area. Art was discharged from the Veteran’s Guard after the end of the war in 1945. The German prisoners were returned to their own country, but a few decided to remain in Canada.They liked this country. Some could speak English quite well. Art was a life member of The Royal Canadian Legion Minnedosa Branch 138. He was also a life member of the Clanwillian Curling Club. Arthur Pollon died on March 16, 1991, at the age of 96, in Minnedosa. For his service in World War I, he received the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (C.G.M.), Bravery Medal “for bravery in the field” (King George V), War Medal 1914-1918, and “The Great War for Civilization” 1914-1948 Medal. His World War II medals include the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and War Medal 1939-1945.
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