Private Gordon Sinclair Elliott
Gordon Elliott was born in Paris on November 16, 1898. He was working as a clerk when he enlisted with the 215th Battalion. Before the war, he had served with the 25th Brant Dragoons. He attended the Paris Baptist Church. He arrived in England on May 7, 1917 and was transferred soon after to the Canadian Reserve Battalion. New recruits were placed here with the understanding that they could be quickly sent where they were needed to replace killed or wounded soldiers. He was transferred to the 125th Battalion on May 27, 1917, shortly after the victory at Vimy Ridge. On April 13, 1918, he was transferred again to the newly formed 2nd Canadian Machine Gun Battalion. On April 21, 1918, they were in the front lines conducting crucial unit relief and intensive on-the-job training.
They officially relieved No. 2 Company, integrating new reinforcements and green recruits alongside veteran machine gunners in the trenches to prepare them for large-scale operations. The battalion had only been officially embodied about a month prior. Rather than pulling the entire unit out of the line to train, they carried out training right in the front lines, with experienced crews supplementing the less experienced men. The troops faced significant hardships. According to their war diaries, machine gun sections routinely stayed in the front line for 12 to 14 days at a time, enduring perpetual shelling and often surviving on cold rations. Relieving No. 2 Company meant the battalion took over the immediate defensive task of covering the 2nd Canadian Division’s front. These freshly integrated crews would be tested a week later, providing indirect fire to support their first major trench raid on April 28.
Gordon would not take part in that action because he suffered multiple gunshot wounds on a week earlier, on April 21. It is not clear if his injuries were s a result of this “intensive on-the-job training. Private Gordon Sinclair Elliott died of his wounds on April 23, 1918. He is buried in the Annex of the Aubigny Municipal Cemetery.