Conquerall Bank, South Shore, Nova Scotia |
On a hill overlooking the LaHave River, a corner of Conquerall Bank that is forever Edson Daniel Berrigan |
734301 PRIVATE
EDSON D. BERRIGAN 112TH BATTN C.E.F. 19TH FEB 1919. |
HE FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT AND WON THE CROWN |
THE INFANT DAUGHTER OF
J.A. & LAURA BERRIGAN
BORN
JAN’Y 17th
DIED
SEP’T 8th 1900
|
What is scripted here is a brief summary of Edson’s military experience. There is much more which could be extracted and written from the within the 84 pages of documents that I have uncovered about him ~ perhaps a project for the future. But for the moment I am satisfied that a little corner in Conquerall Bank that is forever Edson Daniel Berrigan, has now been given some visibility, recognition and importantly ~ a voice.
You may question as to why Edson who died after the Armistice of 11th November 1918 qualified as a CWGC casualty and received their gravestone. The qualifying dates for CWGC recognition are from the 4 August 1914 when Britain and its Empire declared war on Germany to 31 August 1921. The former date which is almost three years after war's end was chosen to capture those who would have died after as a result of injury sustained during the war, of which there was over 75000 ultimately recorded.
It was interesting to read within Edson’s military records, that his pay was $5 per month, which he continually assigned to his mother at home in Nova Scotia. Later on 25 August 1920, in recognition of her personal contribution to the Great War, she received the Memorial Cross which was awarded to mother's or next of kin of Canadian soldiers who died on active duty, or whose death was consequently attributed to such duty.
I have no knowledge as to why Edson enlisted, he could have remained in his teaching job or contributed in other ways via the many employment opportunities within the expanding Nova Scotia war industry. Like many young men throughout the Commonwealth or more accurately for the time The British Empire, it is possible that he got caught up in the patriotism and idealistic enthusiasm leading him to believe in the rightness of the idea.
The Great War started with a glamorized view of war and rallying call which fueled the hopes and dreams of young men, including many who lied about their age, encouraging them to fight for personal glory and national honour. Once they realized the catastrophic horrors which awaited them, this ideal patriotism was however rightly viewed as being misguided. Wilfred Owen a soldier and WWI poet who was killed during the final offensive of the war on the 4th November 1918, one week before the Armistice, wrote of this in the final stanza of his tragically descriptive poem Dulce et Decorum Est ~
Further extracts from Edson's 84-page Military Record ~
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A lovely tribute to a local hero. I had no idea his grave was up the road from us - I pass that cemetery often and have never wandered through. I also had no idea of the qualifying dates - fitting as so many came back from the war injured and dying. It is a wonder why he would have enlisted - but as you say, they may have got caught up in the patriotism of fighting for one's country and freedom. My own grandfather (maternal) lied about his age in order to enlist.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing Edson's story.