YOUR HISTORY by Bryan Ness

The Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines the word “Peace” as “Freedom from noise or anxiety” and “Freedom from the ending of war.” On Nov. 11, many of us gather in Port Coquitlam’s Veterans Park, in the predictable rain and drizzle, and pay respect to the fallen soldiers whose names are inscribed on the war memorial cenotaph.

In June 2007, Riverside secondary school teacher John Perry assigned his Social Studies 11 class to research the names of the First World War soldiers commemorated on the cenotaph, and were able to trace the family histories and service records of most of these long-forgotten men. Through his students’ tireless efforts, we are able to learn more about them.

When I think of the First World War, I picture thousands of men going over the top, meaning they left the safety of their trenches and advanced in human waves towards the enemy’s barbed wire, machine guns and artillery fire. From a nation of seven million people, Canada supplied 600,000 men and women to the war effort, with more than 60,000, or 10%, losing their lives.

But these clinical facts and figures don’t tell the personal story of the mud and horror of life and death on the Western Front.

Herbert Bradley, son of Harry and Bessie Bradley, was born in Dover, England on Jan. 5, 1902. It is unclear when the Bradley family emigrated to Canada and came to Port Coquitlam. Only 14 years old and still attending school, Herbert lied about his age and enlisted in the army. He stood 5’ 5” tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. In January 1917, he was sent overseas with the 72nd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and soon was part of the epic battle of Vimy Ridge.

On April 9. 1917, more than 100,000 Canadian troops stormed the ridge and, after four long and bitter days, were victorious — but at a price. More than 9,000 Canadians were dead or wounded, many due to poison gas inhalation.

Herbert Bradley was severely poisoned by the gas and was evacuated to England, where his true age was finally discovered. He was discharged from the Army in August 1917 and returned to Canada. He died the day on Dec. 26, 1918 of the Spanish Influenza that was sweeping the world. Herbert Bradley was 16 years old.

It makes you wonder why someone so young would be willing to risk dying to enlist and fight in a far-off land, to march into the face of murderous machine-gun fire and watch your fellow comrades fall by the thousands. For King and Empire, some said, for the Glory, said others.

I would like to think it was for peace. They fought in the hopes of bringing peace to the world, to end the “War to End All Wars.”

On Nov. 11, when they call out Herbert Bradley’s name during the roll call at the PoCo cenotaph, take a moment and think of a scared young boy crouching in the mud, with the guns and the shells and the gas all around. Fighting for peace. Our peace.

Lest we forget.

• Thank you to former Riverside secondary students Annali Haydamack and Braden Matthews for their thorough research on Pte. Bradley.

Your History is a column in which, once a month, representatives of the Tri-Cities’ three heritage groups writes about local history. Bryan Ness is with Port Coquitlam Heritage and Cultural Society.