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| Notes for Frederick Charles RICHARDS | ||||||||||||||||||
| Frederick served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WWI as private (regimental number is 106509) in the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles (Saskatchewan Regiment).77 He went missing in action, presumed dead, between June 2 and 5, 1916.78,79 His death certificate reads: "Canadian Expeditionary Force "DEATH CERTIFICATE "This is to Certify that the records at Militia Headquarters show that between the 2nd and 5th day of June 1916, 106509 Private Frederick Charles Richards 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles has been presumed killed in action. "Militia Headquarters [signature illegible] "Ottawa, Ont. Major General, "June 23rd, 1919 "/Adjutant General."78 A commemorative scroll reads, under the coat of arms of George V: "He whom this scroll commemorates was numbered among those who, at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger, and finally passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice, giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten. "Pte. Frederick Charles Richards "Canadian Mounted Rifles"79 Frederick's name is shown on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, panel 30 and 32.77 "Ypres (now Ieper) is a town in the province of West Flanders. The YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL is situated at the eastern side of the town on the road to Menin and Courtrai, and bears the names of 55,000 men who were lost without trace during the defence of the Ypres Salient in the First World War. "When the Germans launched the great spring offensives of 1918, their forces were finally halted less that 2.5 kilometres from the Menin Gate at Ypres. "After the war this 17th century gate, in the eastern ramparts of Ypres, was chosen as the site of a Memorial Arch that would commemorate by name 55,000 dead of the armies of the British Commonwealth who fell in Belgium, most of them in the Ypres Salient, but whose final resting place was known only to God. "The YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL, which was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, and erected by the Imperial (now the Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, consists of a 'Hall of Memory', 36.6 metres long by 20.1 metres wide. In the centre are broad staircases leading to the ramparts which overlook the moat, and to pillared loggias which run the whole length of the structure. On the inner walls of the Hall, on the side of the staircases and on the walls of the loggias, panels of Portland stone bear the names of the dead, inscribed by regiment and corps. "Carved in stone above the central arch, through which the Menin road emerges from Ypres to cross a moat by a causeway, are the words: "To the armies of the British Empire who stood here from 1914 to 1918 and to those of their dead who have no known grave. "Over the two staircases leading from the main Hall is the inscription: "Here are recorded names of officers and men who fell in Ypres Salient but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death. "The dead are remembered to this day in a simple ceremony that takes place every evening at 20.00 hours. All traffice through the gateway in either direction is halted, and two buglers (on special occasions four) move to the centre of the Hall and sound the Last Post. This is a volunteer operation, neither arranged nor supported financially by any government. The tribute is the responsibility of the Ypres Last Post Committee, a voluntary organisation founded in 1928. The cost of the operation, of necessity kept to a minimum, is defrayed from the income of an endowment fund established at that time; and to supplement this, a fund has been started in Vancouver. Two silver trumpets for use in the ceremony are a gift to the Ypres Last Post Committee by an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who served with the 10th Battery, of St. Catherines, Ontario, in Ypres in April 1915."77 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Research Notes | ||||||||||||||||||
| NAME: His first names are also given as Frederick C.7 BIRTH: He is shown as 8 in the 1891 census.7 DEATH: His date of death is also given as Jun 2, 19168 and Jun 2-5, 1916.78 ---------- 1891 census entry: RICHARDS, Sarah A. 36 widow farmer, Emily 9, Frederick C. 8, Alice M. 6, Percy H. 5, Nelly A. 2, Clara L. 17 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Last Modified Jul 1, 2003 | Created Dec 31, 2003 by Reunion for Macintosh |