Following the first steps of the Princess Patricias

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Published on Thursday, July 16, 2015

By Kate Jackman-Atkinson

The Neepawa Banner

When Mary Murray took up quilting just over five years ago, she couldn’t have predicted that those stitches would lead her to Europe’s historic battlefields. This May, Murray and her daughter Melanie travelled to Belgium and France to take part in the Frezenberg Commemoration, an event marking 100 years of service for the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI).

Six years ago, Murray’s husband Mac passed away and she found herself with some free time.  She said, “I was going mad not having anything to do after looking after him 24/7. All of a sudden, I had all this time on my hands, so I took up quilting.”  The Princess Patricias are based at the nearby Shilo base and members of the regiment came home from serving in Afghanistan with injuries. Murray decided to make quilts which she gives to injured soldiers. So far she has given 14, most of them to Shilo-based soldiers, although three have been sent to injured soldiers overseas.  It’s through these quilts that Murray has become part of the PPCLI family.

100 years of service

The Frezenberg Commemoration took place from May 7 to May 11 and retraced the regiment’s first battles. It was part of a year’s worth of events marking the regiment’s centennial.  It began on May 7, when the group toured battlefields around Ypres, where the PPCLI and Canadian Corps were active between 1915 and 1917.  The day included stops at the Passchendaele Memorial Museum; the Tyle Cot Cemetery, near the Canadian Corps start line for the attack on Passchendaele and the largest Commonwealth War Graces Commission cemetery of the First World War; the Passchendaele Monument; the Passchendaele New British Cemetery; the St-Julien Memorial, a monument to the 1st Canadian Division’s stand against the first use of gas by the German Army on the Western Front; Essex Farm, near the location where John McRae wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields”; the Voormezele Cemetery Enclosure, where some of the first PPCLI soldiers killed in the First World War are buried; the Sanctuary Wood Cemetery and the Mount Sorrel Monument.

Murray said, “We placed poppies on many graves of the unknown Canadian soldiers.” She added that they also saw the grave of one young man from England, who was killed at 15 in the First World War. “The youngest commonwealth soldier killed in the war,” she said.

The day finished with the Menin Gate memorial service. Located in Ypres, the monument is dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres area during World War I. Every evening at 8 p.m., buglers from the local fire brigade close the road which passes under the gate and sound the Last Post.

The Menin Gate’s Hall of Memory contains the names of 54,896 soldiers killed in action and whose resting place isn’t known.  However, the monument was found to be too small for all of the names and another 35,000 or so names are listed on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing.

Looking at the two monuments, Murray said, “It’s absolutely amazing, it blew me away. So many thousands and thousands of names… Until you’ve seen it, you have no idea.”

Hold the line

The most significant event of the week, the 100th anniversary of the PPCLI’s first major battle took place on May 8. Murray explained that a new memorial was established in the corner of a farmer’s field, where the battle took place. For the ceremony, there were signs up in the field marking where the men had  been positioned. 

Part of the Second Battle of Ypres, the Battle of Frezenberg, took place on May 8, 1915. The battle marked the regiment’s first battle honours. Heavy bombardment and converging attacks from the Germans pushed the British line back, exposing the Patricia’s left flank. That day, the Patricia’s started with 650 men but heavy bombing resulted in many casualties, including the death or serious injury of the four highest ranking officers. Command passed to Lt. Niven.  Murray explained, “Lieutenant Niven, took charge of the men that were left and they knew they had to hold the line, otherwise all would be lost. If the Germans got through, the city would go. He told the men, ‘We have to hold the line, no matter what the cost.’” Had the Patricia’s not held their position, the Divisional Line was at risk of collapsing. They held the line and when they were relieved the by the British, only 150 men walked off the field.

That first battle set the tone for the regiment and Murray said that after Frezenberg, “Hold the line” became the regiment’s motto. “In future battles, you see where they held the line.  At Vimy, they held the line, they wouldn’t give up,” she said. 

Of the service, she said, “It was very, very touching. I can’t explain.  What got to me at some of the cemeteries, you would see a stone and it would say ‘Five Canadian soldiers lay here, known only unto God.’ It really got you right here [in the heart].”

The memorial was unveiled by Adrienne Clarkson, the Colonel-in-Chief of the PPCLI and Lieutenant-General Ray Crabbe. The ceremony featured five young members of the PPCLI wearing the regiment’s original uniform as well as the Baton team, a whole section of the battalion in dress uniform as well as the PPCLI Pipes and Drums. “It was really fantastic to watch,” she said.

Following the ceremony, the group returned to Ypres, where the Patricia’s were given the Freedom of the City at 6 pm. Following the presentation, members of the PPCLI marched through the streets of Ypres, in their full uniforms, bayonets affixed to their rifles. 

The march ended at the Menin Gate. That day, the Menin Gate memorial service featured the PPCLI Pipes and Drums.

‘You put the flag in’

On Sunday May 10, the group travelled to the Vimy Ridge battlefield. At the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Murray had the unique experience of finding the headstone of a PPCLI soldier whose presence there hadn’t been recorded.  

Murray explained that she was walking along the rows, looking for the maple leaves that mark the graves of Canadian soldiers. All of the graves of Princess Patricias had been marked with a flag as part of the regiment’s centennial but there was one that didn’t have a flag. Murray pointed out the missing flag to one of the organizers and carried on down the rows. She was called back by her daughter and Murray explained, “When I went back, everybody was there, and they said, ‘Well you found him, you put the flag in’. Apparently, he had never been recorded as having been in that cemetery.” It was a special moment for Murray to put the flag in the 23-year-old’s grave.  “It was really touching,” she said. 

The day continued with visits to German, British and Canadian cemeteries.

The day finished with a trip to the Vimy Ridge monument for a special service to formally recognize the regiment’s sacrifices in France. 

Beyond her involvement with the Princess Patricias, Murray has a deep appreciation for the work done by the armed forces. She grew up in London and Murray explains, “I was a child during the second world war and our home was bombed… We had to wait for the soldiers to come and dig us out. As a child, a soldier carried me down the street to the only house left standing.” She continued, adding that her brother was in the British forces for 30 years and his son is now in the British forces. 

“I’ve always valued my freedom very, very highly,” said Murray.