Newfoundland

HOW CLOSELY BRAVERY
AND MODESTY ARE ENTWINED

PRIVATE FRANCIS THOMAS LIND

Private Francis Thomas Lind, much better known by his nickname 'Mayo' Lind, has an entry in the Canadian Dictionary of Biography based on the series of thirty-two good humoured, gossipy letters which he wrote whilst on active service and which were published in the St John's 'Daily News'.
In the letter dated 20 May 1915, Lind complained about English tobacco with the result that the makers of 'Mayo' tobacco launched an appeal for funds to send him tobacco that he could then distribute to his fellow Newfoundland soldiers. On 1 July 1915, 1,700 pounds of tobacco arrived at Stobs Camp near Edinburgh where Lind was in training; much to the amusement and one assumes pleasure of the rest of the camp. This is how he acquired his nickname.
The letters also explain how he acquired his inscription. After the war his letters were published by the editor of the Daily News as 'The Letters of Mayo Lind', "in memory of the cheerful soldier". As the Canadian Dictionary of Biography notes, after Lind's death "he became a symbol in Newfoundland of the soldier who could face discomfort and ultimately sacrifice, with good humour".
Lind went into action with the rest of the 798 members of the 1st Battalion at Beaumont Hamel on 1 July 1916. At the end of the day 710 of them had become casualties: 233 killed, 91 missing, all of the missing eventually to be pronounced dead.
Lind was among the missing. It was months before his family had any firm news and then on 3 November 1916 the headline, 'Frank Lind Dead', appeared in the 'Daily News'. The report stated that:

a returned soldier is sure he saw Frank Lind dead on the field on July 1st. He passed him going out and noticed he was doubled up as though he had been hit in the stomach. The same man was later wounded and in crawling back passed the same place again and is sure there was no doubt that it was Lind and that he was dead.

On 12 November Lind's brother wrote to the Colonial Secretary, (see Lind's file in the digitised records of the Newfoundland Regiment in the Great War) asking him if he would get in touch with the returned soldier, or let him have his name and address so he could make contact himself. I don't know what answer he got but on 23 November the Colonial Secretary wrote a letter to the families of all the missing Newfoundland soldiers telling them that "all these gallant men, whose names are given in the enclosed list, and one of whom was very dear to you, were killed in that fateful action on the 1st of July".

Lind's body was eventually recovered and, in a manner, identified. The full inscription on his headstone reads:

Two soldiers
Of the great war
541 Private
F.T. Lind
Royal Newfoundland Regt.
1st July 1916. age 37
How closely bravery
And modesty are entwined
Unknown soldier
Royal Newfoundland Regt.
Known unto God

BE ASHAMED TO DIE
UNTIL YOU HAVE GAINED
SOME VICTORY FOR HUMANITY

LANCE CORPORAL GEORGE EDWARD PIKE

George Pike was one of the three hundred and twenty-four men from the 1st Battalion the Newfoundland Regiment killed in action on the 1 July 1916. Originally among the missing, his body was located and buried in June 1917. His full army details, medical records and conduct sheets have been digitised and can be found on the Newfoundland Regiment and the Great War website.
His inscription is a well known American quotation from a speech given by Horace Mann 1796-1859, an educational reformer and the President of Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Ohio. It comes from his commencement message to the class of 1859 and is now not only repeated to the graduating class at every commencement but has become the College's motto.
It's not possible to say who chose Pike's inscription as the name under it is that of Lt Colonel T Nangle, Newfoundland's Director of Graves Registration and Enquiries and Memorials and the country's representative on the Imperial War Graves Commission. I have evidence that Newfoundland families did choose inscriptions but sometimes the one on the grave isn't the one they chose.
Nangle served as a Roman Catholic padre with the Royal Army Chaplains Department, where he was much respected by the men. It is to him that credit for the purchase of the ground over which so many Newfoundlanders fought and died on 1 July 1916 was bought and has been preserved as a memorial to all Newfoundlanders who died in the war. He is also responsible for the six caribou memorials, four in France, one in Belgium and one in Newfoundland that also commemorate the dead.

LOVED WE OUR COUNTRY MUCH
HE LOVED IT MORE

CORPORAL WALTER NORMAN

Their "country" was Newfoundland, a self-governing British Dominion with a population of 240,000. Despite its size, Newfoundland managed to recuit a complete battalion, and even more amazingly to maintain its numbers despite the almost 90% casualties the regiment suffered on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Walter Norman was killed on 27 February 1917 in an attack on the German trenches at Sailly-Saillisel.