Vimy Ridge hero presented at Penhold

MARKERVILLE – Ron Bradley's grandfather is a Canadian war hero from the Battle of Vimy Ridge and his story of unforgettable courage and valour is being proudly displayed in Penhold.

Lance-Cpl. Leo Baxter was also a poet, penning a piece at Vimy Ridge about the misery of living with lice while battling in the trenches.

“Here is sit in a dugout in France,

My shirt is just covered with crumbs,

But I pick them off patiently one by one,

And crack them between my thumbs…

The bigger ones squirt and fly,

And a bit of blood which at one time was my own….”

And there was blood everywhere during his two-year stint in the Great War. Baxter, a machine gunner with the 8th Canadian Machine Gun Company, was heavily involved in most of the bloodiest battles Canadians faced. These included the Battle of the Somme, which cost the Canadian Corps 24,029 casualties; Vimy Ridge in the spring of 1917, a battle which saw 10,602 casualties, including 3,598 killed, and Passchendaele in the fall of that year, with another 15,600 killed, wounded or missing.

For more than a year, Bradley, a Markerville resident for the past half century and curator of the village's Boy Scout Museum, has been presenting a display called, In Remembrance of Past Veterans: A Tribute for my Grandfather. He has presented the display in Caroline, Spruce View, Penhold, Sylvan Lake and of course in Markerville. The display is now set up for this year's Remembrance Day at the Penhold & District Library. With the help of a historian from Sundre's Royal Canadian Legion, the display features his grandfather's records of service, his poem of lice in the trenches, as well as various other documents and a brief write-up of his days in the Great War.

“This is to honour my grandfather, as I am very proud of him, and of course I am very proud of all the vets that served,” said Bradley. “Through my grandfather's eyes we found out there have been other family members that served in other wars. Through my uncle, who did the original family history, we found records going back to the American Civil War of another young boy, a cousin from my mother's side, and we actually have his documents signed by the general at the time releasing him.”

As for Baxter, his combat days ended at Passchendaele. He had been hit by artillery, gassed, suffered trench fever and acid burns. Although he was deemed unfit for combat he was assigned as a machine gun instructor in England.

When the war was over he returned home and later moved to Whitecourt, Alta., where he spent the rest of his life. Despite the horrific experiences he endured from the Great War, Baxter later put a positive spin on it all.

“In a way I think army life is good for young guys like I was then,” he told a newspaper in 1986, five years before he passed away in 1991 at the age of 96.

“It's good for young people to have something like that especially when there's no jobs.”

In the meantime, Bradley said his presentation of his grandfather's military service has made an impact with many Central Albertans, especially at this time of year when Canadians are asked to pause in remembrance.

“I get a lot of feedback from the veterans who remembered having their own family members fight in this war and then pass away,” said Bradley. “And that is the idea, to bring back that history and of honouring our veterans because they gave so much.”

For more on Canada's courageous veterans, go to the Remembrance Day supplement from page 11 to 23.