Pvt MaHood

[DougB]

I recently acquired a First World War medal duo engraved to a Private James MaHood of the Canadian 42nd Btn, , 7th Brigade, 3rd Division. On the surface, It's nothing special other than the condition is rather nice.



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[DougB]

Prior to serving in the 42nd Btn Private MaHood was in the 73rd RHC, A Coy, 3rd Platoon. The medals came with the soft cover book which was a photographic record of the 73rd before it set sail for France in 1915.



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[big ned]

Do you know if he made it through Doug?

[DougB]

However Private J MaHood does hold a rather unique distinction. He was one of the last CEF soldiers to be killed before the war ended Nov 11, 1918. In the artillery strike 2 were killed outright, another 8 wounded, of which two DOW, of which he was one. MaHood was one of 34 men buried in the ceremony Nov 11, 1918.

He is buried in Plot A, Grave 20 at the Valienciennes Communal Cemetary where the CWGC has a Cemetary with approximately 850 laid to rest if memory serves me correctly, many of them Canadians.

I am currently in Belgium visiting both my son and some collector friends and several battlefields and memorial sites. Monday I drove down to Valenciennes France to pay my respects to Private J MaHood who if only had been a meter or more away would maybe have seen the final 12 hours of his 3 plus years in war.

One or two meters. A few hours. It was a very touching day for me and glad I was able to take the time to drive there and remember him in person.



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[relicz]

A very fine and moving tribute to Private J MaHood Doug. As you know, it is all about the history for me. ......A grave visit is always a very humbling experience.

Say hello to Frank, Karel, Ivan and all the Belgian guys for me......you guys are missed on that other forum.

[big ned]

It seems I was a little premature with my question, and apologise. The Canucks of the 3rd division saw some of the most prolonged and bitter fighting of the Western Front, the Somme, Lens, Arras and Thiepval to name just some of the more familiar, but there was much else less well known yet deadly actions.

It's poignant and tragic that Private MaHood went through so much only to die in those last few hours, I find it truly moving, thanks for sharing this with us all.

Regards, Ned.

[Jerry B]

A very moving set of medals Doug and the history that goes with them is a reminder of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

[CARL]

Nice thread Doug, well done. Touching indeed.

Regards,

Carl

[lithgow]

I remember seeing a documentary on the casualties of the last day of the Great War a few years back-they made the point that if you died it didn't really matter when, you were still dead. A friend of the family whom I met when I was young was a pre WW1 British regular in an infantry battalion-he went through 4 years on the Western front including being gassed (his lungs never fully recovered from it but he lived into his 90s).

[DougB]

Thanks for the likes and kind words gents. One thing you may notice, in the first photo itis cloudy and had been raining fairly hard. I got to his grave site and paused in long thought, took a couple of photos and stood again for a while deep in thought. While standing there thinking as if by magic the rain stopped, the clouds broke up and the site was covered in bright sunshine. I was quite dumbfounded by this. I took a photo of the gate and memorial cross from the inside where Maahood lay and another of his tombstone bathed in sunlight.

I walked around the Cemetary for another 30 minutes or so and while preparing to leave, the sky darkened once again with thick grey clouds and the rain returned. Coincidence? I prefer to think not. I prefer to think the better angels of our nature gave some good weather for a few moments, some bright blue sky to a visitor from MaHoods homeland, who came a long way to pay homage to him, standing at his final resting place and also brightened the day for Private James MaHood whose Name Liveth Evermore.


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