An Interesting Great War Photo with 57 Squadron Connections: 107th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, “A” Company Subalterns, Lens, France, 29 July 1917
by John Moses, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
It is worth noting on this postcard dated 29 July 1917, the correspondent identifies two of the officers as Indigenous North American Indians (“First Nations”, in current Canadian usage) from Canada. Number 1 shown is Lieutenant Oliver Milton Martin, Mohawk, from Ohsweken, the village centre of the Six Nations of the Grand River Indian Reserve near Brantford, Ontario. Number 6 is the correspondent himself (and my great uncle), Lieutenant James David Moses, from Smooth Town, the Delaware district on the same reserve.
July 29th 1917
Dear Dad
Here is a picture postal of [A Co] subalterns. The three in front row have just returned from trenches. Our turn comes next. They are all good fellows, lots of fun when and where possible. [Have received] your parcel this week. Hope you are getting along fine…quite a lot of rain here lately. Will write later in reply to your letter. Your affectionate son, Jim
Note gas mask and steel helmets we wear also muddy boots
107th Battalion ‘A’ Company Subalterns
1 Lieutenant O M Martin [Ohs] ‘Mohawk’
2 Lieutenant [A L Cavanaugh] Winnipeg ‘Irish’
3 Lieutenant H Dawson Montreal ‘Scotch’
4 Lieutenant [F Biley] Kamloops ‘Irish’
5 Lieutenant [S V Smith] Winnipeg ‘English’
6 Lieutenant J D Moses Smoothtown ‘Delaware’
Moses was writing home to his father, Nelson Moses, in the days preceding the rotation of the 107 th Battalion, Canadian Expedtionary Force (CEF) into the lines north of Lens, for what would transpire as the heavy fighting for Hill 70. After Vimy Ridge in April 1917, the fighting north of Lens during August 1917, was perhaps the pre-eminent Canadian engagement of the entire First World War.
The photo documents one of Canada’s largely Indigenous formations of the Great War. Originally recruited around Winnipeg, Manitoba, the 107th Battalion was augmented on arrival in France with selected members of the recently disbanded 114th Battalion, CEF, “Brock’s Rangers”. The 114th had been recruited in and around the Six Nations Reserve, and into which unit both Martin and Moses had originally been attested.
Like the 114th Battalion, approximately half of the 107th Battalion’s eight hundred men, including commissioned officers and soldiers, was comprised of First Nations and Metis troops from across the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. The photo is an interesting commentary on the rising sense of Canadian nationalism and identity that unfolded during the course of the War. In writing home, Moses found it worth noting the ethnicity of his brother officers: one could claim “Canada” as their country, while still claiming “Delaware” or “Mohawk” (or “Scotch” or “Irish” or “English”) as their nation.
Subsequently posted for flight training with the Royal Flying Corps in September 1917, Lieutenants Moses’ and Martin’s war service is noteworthy as they were among only three Canadian Indians who would hold commissions in the British flying services during the Great War. The third was John Randolph Stacey, a Mohawk from Kahnawake near Montreal, Quebec, who qualified as an RAF pilot. He was killed in a flying accident in England on 8 April 1918, just a week after Lieutenant Moses was reported missing on 1 April 1918. Martin survived the War as a pilot and remained active in the Canadian militia during the inter-War years. He was recalled to active service during the Second World War, as brigadier in charge of infantry training of Canada’s west coast. Martin’s appointment remains the highest rank yet attained by an Indigenous person in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Lieutenant Moses and his pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Douglas Trollip (a South African) were reported missing by the RAF on the first day of its operational formation on 1 April 1918. The loss of Trollip and Moses' 57 Squadron DH4 aircraft (Serial no. A7872) was attributed by the German Army Air Force to one Leutnant Hans Joachim Wolff. Wolff was a member of Jagdgeschwader von Richtofen, more commonly known in English as the Red Baron’s Flying Circus.
The training Moses received as an observer and air gunner was typical for an aspiring aviator from the Canadian dominion during the Great War
Lieutenant James Moses
After enlisting on 19 November 1915, Moses served as an infantry officer with the 37th Haldimand Rifles of Canadian Militia. Later he served with the 114th and 107th Battalions of the CEF, until seconded to the RFC. Moses was in action across the Somme and on the Ypres Salient from the time of the 107th ’s arrival on the continent in February 1917. He was present at the heavy fighting for Hill 70 near Lens from 15 – 25 August 1917.
On 3 September 1917 he was transferred for duty as an Army Observer with the Royal Flying Corps. He began flight training with 98 Squadron as an air gunner and artillery observer in England on 19 September 1917. On 3 January 1918 he returned to France and, 5 days later, was attached to 57 Squadron RFC, based at St. Marie Cappel and later at Boisdinghem near St. Omer.
57 Squadron was a reconnaissance and bombing squadron equipped with the De Havilland DH4. It would soon be heavily involved in operations aimed at countering the great German Spring Offensive of March 1918. Between 21 January - 31 March 1918, Moses successfully completed a total of 13 bombing raids and 17 photographic, artillery spotting, and related reconnaissance flights.
An Airco DH4 of 57 Squadron
James Moses in peacetime had been a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse on the Six Nations reserve. The cumulative effects of his months of war service, on the ground and in the air, are apparent in the graphic quality of the letters he wrote home to his father. One extract will suffice, from what would prove to be his final letter home.
France, 30 March 30 1918
Dear Dad ...Just a few lines to let you know that I am getting along O.K ... My pilot and I have had some very thrilling experiences just lately. We bombed the German troops from a very low height and had the pleasure of shooting hundreds of rounds into dense masses of them with my machine gun. They simply scattered and tumbled in all directions. Needless to say we got it pretty hot and when we got back to the aerodrome found that our machine was pretty well shot up.
On 1 April 1918, Moses and Trollip were reported “Missing” near Bapaume, France. I was their fourteenth daylight bombing run together.
Lieutenant Moses’ father received the following telegram dated 5 April 1918:
Sir
I am commanded by the Air Council to confirm a telegram from this office to notify you that Lt. J.D. Moses of the Royal Air Force is missing. I am to point out this does not necessarily mean that he is killed or wounded and to say that you shall be immediately informed as soon as any definite news is received. Should you receive any further information from any source I am to request that you will communicate immediately with this office.
Nelson Moses, wrote a moving poem entitled The Missing Airman upon receiving word of the fate of his son. The poem was subsequently published in a local newspaper, likely the Brantford Expositor. An obituary concerning the fate of Lieutenant John Randolph Stacey, the other First Nations casualty of the RAF, appeared in the Toronto Evening Telegram on 12 April 1918 under the following headline:
Killed While Flying ~ Lieut. John R. Stacey, A Young Iroquois Officer Meets His Death ~ Lieut. John Randolph Stacey, one of the four Iroquois officers who went overseas in Brock’s Rangers, has met his death through an airplane accident.
The names of Lieutenant James David Moses, aged 28, and 2nd Lieutenant Douglas Price Trollip, aged 23, are inscribed on the Monument to the Missing of the Air Services at Arras. The German Air Force records indicate their aircraft was brought down near Grevillers. It is possible their graves are amongst those marked “Known unto God” in Grevillers British Military Cemetery, which I have visited on pilgrimage, as well as the Monument at Arras.
