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Valour Road medals united at Canadian War Museum EMC news - Nearly a century after they were awarded, three Victoria Cross medals – the highest award for courage in the British Commonwealth – have made their way to the Canadian War Museum. The medals were awarded to three young Canadian soldiers – Sgt.-Maj. Frederick William Hall, Lt. Robert Shankland and Cpl. Lionel B. Clarke – for their bravery during some of the fiercest fighting of the First World War. What makes these medals unique among the 71 VC’s awarded during that war was that all three men lived on the same block of the same street in Winnipeg. Subject of a CBC Heritage Minute, the brave actions of the men – two of whom did not survive the war – led their community to pressure Winnipeg city council to rename Pine Street to what is now Valour Road. The medals and a synopsis of each man’s actions are now contained within the museum’s Royal Canadian Legion Hall of Honour. “We decided to put the display in this section because we’re focusing not just on the men and the medals, but also on how Winnipeg commemorated their valour,â€? said MĂŠlanie Morin-Pelletier, First World War assistant-historian at the museum. “It’s a study of a city honouring its citizens.â€? By the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Winnipeg had recently undergone a population boom, and many young labourers were quick to enlist for military service. Hall, born in Ireland, was a shipping clerk before enlisting at the onset of war. He was killed by rifle fire at the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 as he left his trench to rescue a wounded comrade. Clarke, a railroad surveyor, was wounded while singlehandedly defending a captured Somme trench from 20 enemy soldiers. He was killed
by shellfire a month later, in October 1916. Shankland was a creamery cashier before the war. He was commanding a company of men during the Battle of Passchendaele in October 1917 when heavy fire caused a neighbouring battalion to withdraw, leaving him and his men dangerously exposed. Shankland made the dangerous journey back to Allied lines to report the situation before returning to his men to await reinforcements. He survived the war and even re-enlisted as a noncombatant officer during the Second World War. While the death toll on all sides during the First World War was staggering, the resi-
dents of the working-class Winnipeg neighbourhood didn’t want the service of their neighbours to be forgotten. In 1925, the city of Winnipeg erected a plaque declaring the street would henceforth be named Valour Road. With the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War less than two years away, the new display ends a threeyear initiative by the museum to gather the Valour Road Victoria Cross medals in one place. “Our collections people worked closely with the donors, making sure they were comfortable with the idea of donating the medals,� said Avra Gibbs-Lamey, spokesperson for the museum.
SUBMITTED
Eric Clarke, left, and Doug Cargo, great-nephews of Cpl. Lionel B. Clarke and Sgt. Maj. Frederick William Hall, admire the new display of Victoria Cross medals belonging to First World War soldiers from Winnipeg’s Valour Road at the Canadian War Museum.
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Kanata Kourier-Standard EMC - Thursday, November 15, 2012 39