209 The Royal Canadian Legion www.mbnwo.legion.ca WILLIAMSON, Reginald “Reg” WWI Reg was born in East Ardsley, Yorkshire, England on December 6, 1888. His father, George, was Headmaster of the East Ardsley school for 37 years, and his mother, Catherine Drummond, Headmistress for many years. Their strict discipline was carried out in the home as well as at school. Reg arrived in the Gordon district with John Forsythe on April 28, 1903, at the age of fourteen. According to “Looking Backwards” in the Neepawa Press, W.F. Sirett and John Forsythe (first Councillors in the newly formed Langford Municipality 1891) were commissioned by the Government to serve as immigration lecturers and interviewers in Great Britain to persuade residents to seek “The Good Life” in Canada. Thus, Reg worked and lived with many of the pioneer families in the Gordon School district. He felt he was part of these families and enjoyed many “homes away from home”. It was hard work and days were very long especially when they went to Kerr’s Lake, north of Franklin, to cut and haul Jack-Pine. When war broke out in 1914, Reg was enthused with concern and loyalty for his Motherland. Patriotism was a strong word in those days and he soon enlisted on December 4, 1915 in Brandon in the 79th Battalion. He served overseas in France with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Infantry in the mud, blood, gas warfare, and machine gun fire of the enemy. He was wounded on October 11, 1916. Soldiers were paid a shilling a day. Records state that on July 1, 1916, 57,000 British soldiers were gunned down. 21,392 men were killed mostly in the first three hours of the day, and five months later when the battle was over, 500,000 British troops had been killed. Reg was one of the fortunate ones to return to Canada. Reg received his discharge papers after three years of service on May 6, 1919. He had lost the sight in his right eye, had a huge hole in his shoulder and nerves and tendons severed in his hand. Fifty years later, a doctor completed his examination by saying: “Your hands were so badly injured, how did you ever farm?” “Well, I always had a good neighbour,” was the reply from Reg. Continuing nightmares plagued him for the rest of his life. Reg and Ada Harvey were married on February 22, 1918 in London, England. Ada was born in Walsall, Staffordshire, England and was educated there. On May 5, 1919, they arrived together and moved on to a quarter section oneand-a-half miles south of Gordon School. He became a soldier-settler on NE 29-13-16 Langford Municipality. Ada was a dental receptionist before marriage and after a bank clerk. She quickly learned about the life as a farmer’s wife from Mrs. James Grassie and was welcomed in to their home just as her sons had been given a home in England during the war by Reg’s family. This family relationship sustained her many times for the rest of her life, for war brides in those days seldom, if ever, saw their own families again. Farming in those days consisted of breaking and improving the land – acquiring good stock, witching and digging wells and sometimes never finding a permanent water supply. An axe, puck, shovel, Swede saw, and a good team of horses were some of the prized possessions a farmer owned and often used. His wife was pleased to get linoleum to cover her wood floors. She was pleased to have a wooden churn, scrub board and clothes line. Ada had to adapt to farm life and cope with many unheard of problems, but neighbours were very good friends and they were always giving or receiving help. Ada and her pacer “Bessie” were a familiar sight on the country road, kept usable by the farmers themselves during an off season. continued . . .
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