"GLORIOUS SURVIVORS"

While never forgetting those who died, in the next few days we will remember those who fought and survived the horrors of World War I. Padre Thomas Nangle referred to them as "glorious survivors".  

Cathy Taylor entered Kindergarten at Mercy Convent about 1963.  The following year she started Grade 1 at St Patrick's Convent.  Cathy remembers Sr Kieran, her teacher, very well and she  still has her Report Card from that year. She must have been a good student because she came first in her class! Cathy graduated from St Patrick's, Grade 9, in 1971 and moved on to Holy Heart of Mary High School.  In this post Cathy Taylor Coffey pays a fond tribute to her grandfather,  Sgt Victor Taylor, who enlisted on 2nd September 1914. 

Sgt Victor Taylor, Newfoundland Regiment Number 111

"My grandfather was Victor Taylor, and he was one of the First Five Hundred in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, number 111.  He was born on November 10, 1889. He grew up on the South Side Road, and later lived on Topsail Road, and then on Craigmillar Avenue, where I grew up. He was a machinist by trade and worked at Job’s down at the docks.

He survived the battle of Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916. I had always thought that he was one of the 68 that answered roll call on July 2, 1916, but my Aunt Patricia (married to John Taylor, my uncle) had recently informed me that he was not on that list. 

I do know that he was one of three ‘runners’ that day, so he would have been one of the first to go over the top that morning. This was according to one of the staff at Beaumont Hamel Memorial in France that I spoke to in June, 2000. 

As to what happened to him that day we will never know. He never spoke of the war much to us, but he did speak to my Uncle Gus Blackwood who was in the Air Force (married to my aunt, Mary {Taylor} Blackwood). Like many, he was probably more comfortable sharing stories with someone else who had also served.

Although my grandfather did not often speak of the war, he was very proud of the Newfoundland Regiment. When I was little he used to sing us his marching songs, “Mademoiselle from Armentieres”, taking care to leave out the naughty bits! He also talked a little about life in the trenches. He had issues with his feet throughout his life as a result of frostbite, and also issues with the skin on his face from mustard gas, which he survived by urinating in his handkerchief and covering his face with it. He never told us about this, but Uncle Gus told me. He was also hospitalised for a time with dysentery. 

Luke, at the Danger Tree, 
Newfoundland Memorial Park, Beaumont Hamel

In June, 2000, we took our youngest son, Luke, to The Somme and  Beaumont Hamel. I was the first grandchild and Luke was the first great grandchild to visit the site. Luke’s train ticket number from Paris to Amiens was '111', which was Pops’s regimental number. It was a very emotional experience for me as I walked through the remnants of those same trenches where he would have walked under very different circumstances.

Every year my grandfather gave me money to get a poppy for myself and him, and so I would stop at that little store at the foot of Patrick Street on my way home from school. I remember the store clerk always saying it was too much money, but it was what my Pops wanted me to pay, so I did. 

I wear my poppy for him especially, every Remembrance day."

Thank you very much for sharing this lovely personal story with us Cathy.  Imagine Luke's ticket being number 111!  That was an amazing coincidence and I expect you have saved the ticket.  I think your grandfather would be as proud of you as you are of him.