LEST WE FORGET 47 AVANT, Vivian Bragg WWI Vivian Bragg Avant joined the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force (CEF) on December 29, 1914 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Attestation Paper he signed that day stated he was born in Chiswick, London, England on November 4, 1890. That would make him just 24 years and one month old when he joined. He was unmarried and listed his brother, Wilfred Avant, as his next of kin. Vivian immigrated to Canada in 1908 to Moose Jaw where he lived with his brother Wilfred, later moving to Hughton, Saskatchewan. By the spring of 1916, Vivian’s battalion was with the other Canadian troops occupying the high points stretching from Sanctuary Wood and Hill 62. The woods, trenches and men were obliterated. Whole Canadian sections were wiped out. RC. Bradford of the Princess Pats Battalion said: “The air was thick with shrapnel, shell cases and nose caps.” Only 135 of the 692 men in Avant’s battalion made it to the rear. Survivors said the bottom of what was left of the Canadian-occupied China Wall Trench was clogged with the dead and dying and ankle deep with blood in places. The battle raged from June 2 to June 13 and Private Vivian Avant went missing on either the third day or sometime later. No one knows for sure – there were few survivors to tell the tale.What is certain is that he would have witnessed the full horror of that battle before he was killed. He was 25 years old. Like many of his comrades, Vivian’s body was never found, and he has no known grave. His Military Circumstances of Death card states: “Date of Casualty – on or since June 5, 1916. Previously reported missing, now for official purposes presumed to have died. Sanctuary Wood Sector.” AVANT, Wilfred WWII Wilfred Avant came from England in 1903 and worked for a time near Pense, Saskatchewan. After acquiring the basics in farming in Canada, he took up a homestead at Goven, Saskatchewan. In 1910, he obtained a “purchased homestead” six miles south of what ultimately became the village of Hughton. He walked to Swift Current to file the necessary forms, a two-hour journey by car.Wilfred married Ethel in 1919 and subsequently their sons, John and Allan, were born. Wilfred served in the Canadian Army in World War II.
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