The World is a Stage
Article content
"I’ll be home for Christmas." That was the buzz in the fall of 1915, from the boys overseas in WWI.
Everyone thought the war against the Germany would be over by Christmas. It wasn’t over for the New Year either. It wouldn’t be over for three more years.
The first year of the war did not go well. Canada’s first contingent was 33,000 strong, but it was not enough. The Honour Roll booklet for Tillsonburg and District, which listed the men and women that enlisted for the war, noted: “On through the summer and autumn of 1915, a ‘steady but inadequate stream of reinforcements reached front. Only with the year-end and the call for ‘half a million men from Canada,’ did your nation awake to its great duty.”
Half a million men? From a country with a population of eight million people? Take out the women, children, infirm, and those too young and too old to fight and the number left to volunteer would be almost unmaintainable.
The Honour Roll also noted: “The call to service, to duty, to sacrifice, rings through the civilized world with a force not exceeded at any period in the world’s history. Let us see to it that we fail not in this Dominion in this great crisis. Let us set an example of Patriotism and devotion that will be held dear in every section of the great British Empire, and in every country linked up with us in the struggle for the freedom of the world."
On Dec 21st, 1915 Lieutenant Colonel W.T. McMullen, commanding officer of the 22nd Oxford Rifles, who had answered the call, and petitioned for an all Oxford County Battalion to be raised, had his wish granted. The 168th Battalion became known as Oxford’s Own. The 168th was divided into four divisions of which Tillsonburg and District was C Company. Tillsonburg was a hub for the surrounding farmers, smaller towns and villages, who came to shop, go to church and participate in various clubs and social events.
The Battalion had to pay its way from recruiting the men, with rallies, dances, dinners and parades to outfitting the entire battalion. This included uniforms, blankets, tents, and equipment. Just pause here for a moment and think a moment.
Thousands of men around Canada were enlisting and the Canadian Army had no warehouses filled with thousands of uniforms, or tents or the equipment they needed, nor the money buy them. Where did they come from? These community battalions were reliant on their hometowns to become very involved with the wellbeing of their boys. Money had to be raised and help given to dress and outfit them.
Fundraising began and the women began knitting and sewing. They may not have been able to make the actual uniform but they could knit socks, sew putties and make the sewing kit the men needed for repairs. It was called a ‘Housewife’ as it contained what a housewife would use for repairs: needles, thimble, buttons for Battle Dress and shirts, thread, thin for badges and thick for darning socks, gloves and woolen items and beeswax to help waterproof the thread.
The Battalion Colours (flag) was donated by businessmen. In the county enough funds were raised to out fit three bands: a Brass Band, Bugle Band and a Pipe Band, which played all at rallies, parades and fairs around the county. A general service wagon was donated to the 168th. Remember this war was all about horses.
The 168th wanted 1,200 men between 18-45 years of age and by mid June the same year, being almost at full strength they were sent to Camp Francis in London, Ont. for training. In July they were off to Camp Borden for more intensive training. As more enlisted they were sent directly to Camp Borden. In the early fall many men from the 168th were allowed leave to return home and bring in the harvest. They army needed food as well.
About 1,600 men enlisted in Oxford’s Own but only 700 were aboard the S.S. Lampland, on their way to England Nov. 3rd. The 900 not aboard were released because of illness, discovered unfit, or were transferred to other units. With great pride the men from Oxford County, arrived in Liverpool, England on November 11, 1916 to be trained yet again.
The Honour Roll lists that in the end, 188 joined Tillsonburg and District’s Company C. Friends, and family members, together to fight and protect each other during the war. Unfortunately the loss of men at the front was so great, that 25 days later on Dec. 5, 1916, almost a year from when action to form the battalion began, it was broken up. By January 1917, the majority of men were in either the 4th or 6th Reserve Battalions.
Besides the 168th C Battalion, Tillsonburg and District had 181 men who enlisted in other Battalions and six Nursing Sisters who joined the Canadian Army Medical Corp; a grand total of 375 men and women.