Private Waldron Watson Wallace

Waldron Wallace was born in Walkerton, Ontario and moved to Paris with his parents in 1912. He had five sisters, and the family lived on Jane Street. They attended the Paris Congregational Church, where Waldron belonged to the Young People’s Society. He also belonged to the YMCA.

Waldron was employed as a painter when he enlisted with the 125^th Battalion in 1916. He later transferred to the 215^th Battalion in Hamilton, and for some time, he was a sergeant instructor with the battalion and went over to England in February, 1917. Waldron gave up his stripes to go to the Front. He went to France with the Machine Gun Corps.

In September, 1918, the Canadian Machine Gun Corps (CMGC) were actively engaged in heavy fighting on the Western Front as part of the larger Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Line, a phase of the Hundred Days Offensive that led to the end of the war. Canadian soldiers, including machine gun units, were positioned on the west bank of the Canal du Nord by September 4, 1918, having just captured the German Fresnes-Rouvroy defence system. The troops were in a period of consolidation and preparation for the next major offensive, the crossing of the Canal du Nord and the Battle of Cambrai, which began on September 27, 1918.

Private Waldron Wallace was killed in action on September 4, 1918. He was 25 years old. He is buried in Beaurains Road Cemetery on the southern outskirts of Arras. The First World War would be over in two months.