As always at this time of year, people in Canada remember the sacrifices made by fellow Canadians in times of war. Across the country, in communities like Elora and Fergus, they gather in front of cenotaphs on Remembrance Day to honour the fallen – the thousands whose lives were cut short. They wear the poppy, which Colonel John McRae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” has made the symbol of ultimate selflessness. They pay homage through the words made famous by Rudyard Kipling, “Lest we forget.”
No one is buried at the site of a cenotaph. The word is Greek for empty tomb. The cenotaph stands as a memorial for those who are buried in foreign lands – or at sea; whose graves sometimes have no names, and who in some cases have no grave at all. The names engraved on a cenotaph serve to remind us that these people once lived here where we live; they walked our streets, went to school and work. Some were born here; others immigrated from elsewhere.
Following are just a few of the people from Elora and Fergus whose names are on the cenotaphs (or should be).
Daniel Oscar Card, son of Hiram and Winnifred Card, was born in what is now Alberta in 1880, but grew up in Elora. He learned the printer’s trade working at the Elora Express. People who knew him said he was “possessed of more than ordinary grit and energy and could be depended on to do his full duty as a soldier.” He was unmarried, and as a man in his mid-thirties he was much older than most of the young men who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). Card was a private in the Canadian Infantry. He was killed in action at Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917.
John Logan Cook was born in Scotland in 1891 and immigrated to Canada with his family, settling in Fergus. He was employed as a labourer when he enlisted in the CEF in September of 1915. In 1917, Cook was severely injured in the Battle of the Somme. He was gassed and suffered shrapnel wounds to his head, legs and groin while serving as a private with the Central Ontario Regiment of Infantry. He spent over a year in hospitals in England and said he hoped to one day be able to return to the front. However, he was sent home to Canada and discharged as medically unfit for further service. Cook never fully recovered from his wounds, and died on May 6, 1920.
John Johnson Stewart Bell of Elora was born in 1895, the son of John and Selina Bell. At the time of his enlistment with the CEF in October of 1915, he was employed as a bank clerk. On July 28, 1917, private Bell was struck by a bullet that passed through his body. He suffered a spinal injury and the lower part of his body was paralyzed. He was taken to a hospital in England and died there on August 5. He was buried in a military cemetery in Surrey. Cook was among the fallen Elora soldiers honoured by a memorial window unveiled in the village’s Knox Church on May 1, 1921. Curiously, John Johnson Stewart Bell’s name is not listed on the cenotaph.
Harold Hugh Black was born in Fergus in 1891 to a farm family. He and his brother Hubert had an adventurous trek across what was then a remote part of Western Canada in search of good land for a new homestead. Black enlisted in the CEF in September of 1915. He fought in battles at the Somme, Courcelette, Vimy Ridge and Hill 70 before being wounded in the head at Passchendaele on November 6, 1917. After recuperating in England, he was back at the front in the spring of 1918 and was wounded again, this time in the right shoulder, during the Battle of Amiens. Black was awarded the Military Medal, but his injuries kept him out of any further service. He returned to Canada in poor health and eventually fell ill with tuberculosis. He died in a sanitarium in Calgary on April 10, 1923. Harold Black was buried in Belsyde Cemetery in Fergus with military honours.
Edward Grant Aitchison was born in Orangeville in 1918 to John and Emma Aitchison. His family moved to Elora while he was still a young boy. He went to elementary and secondary school in Elora, and worked in his father’s hardware store. When the Second World War broke out he enlisted with the RCAF.
Aitchison was sent to England where he learned to fly Spitfire fighter planes. He also became a flying instructor. Flight Lt. Aitchison served in the North African campaign against German General Erwin Rommel. On February 7, 1945, he married a Royal Air Force nursing sister, Bronwen Morgan, from Wales.
On March 31, Aitchison was reported missing when he failed to return to his base in the Netherlands after a mission over Germany. About eight weeks later, American soldiers found his wrecked plane and his body. Aitchison was buried in the Nederweert War Cemetery in the Netherlands.
James Michael Bergin, son of Michael and Gertrude Bergin, was born in Fergus in 1921. He attended elementary and high school there. He was employed as a butcher when he enlisted in the RCAF on July 8, 1941. After training he was sent to England where he was assigned to bomber command with the rank of Leading Aircraftman and stationed at Topcliffe. On November 6, 1944, Bergin was sitting in his billet, talking with some fellow airmen, when he suddenly stood up and cried, “My head, my head!”
He was helped into the bathroom, complaining of pains in his head and stomach. This was followed by vomiting. Bergin was taken to an RAF hospital where he died on November 9. His death certificate says his death was “natural” and caused by internal hemorrhaging. He was buried in Harrogate, Yorkshire.
There are many other stories behind the names on the cenotaphs in Elora and Fergus. All of them can be found online at the website of the Wellington County Museum and Archives.
