WWI
There were few soldiers that served for Canada in both WWI and WWII. One that did just that was Mathew Solomon Mandawoub of Saugeen First Nation.
Mat was born at Saugeen First Nation on October 26, 1896 to Alexander (Elec) Mandawoub Solomon and Elizabeth Mitchell. Upon his father’s death he moved to Cape Croker with his mother. He was working as a farmer when he decided to enlist in the 160th Bruce Battalion. It was December of 1915 and the call went out throughout Bruce County for volunteers for the forming of a new battalion from the County.
In May of 1916, the platoons from across the county gathered in Walkerton and proceeded to London to begin training. That October with a strength of approximately 1,200 they sailed to England from Halifax aboard the S. S. Metagama. Intense training began in camps at Bramshott and Whitely in south central England. There was a long wait of more than a year before the 160th men were sent as replacements to join various Canadian regiments at the wars front in France.
It was March 28, 1918 that Mathew joined the 18th Battalion from Western Ontario. The 18th had served in many of the earlier battles including Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, Hill 70 and others. In August of 1918, they were a part of the push to move the Germans out of France and end the war. This was known as the 100 Days Offensive.
By October 1918, the German army was being beaten back by the allies and had reached the city of Cambrai. This battle lasted 3 days and both sides had casualties of more than 10,000.
On October 10th, the final day of the battle, Mathew was shot in his left arm above the elbow. The bullet had lodged against the bone. He was removed to a General Hospital near the English Channel and had surgery to remove the bullet. He remained in hospital until November 29th after the war’s end.
On December 13th he left England for Canada. He was discharged on January 13th, 1919, in London ON and returned to his mother’s home at Cape Croker.
WWII
Mathew returned to Saugeen First Nation and, on April 20, 1920, he married Laura James. They raised a family of 9 children: Joseph, Helen, Patrick, Basil, Pauline, Stella, Lucilla, Alex and Amos.
In 1940, with the war in Europe raging, England felt that they may be invaded by Germany. They then made the decision to move all German and Italian Prisoners of war to Canada. They were mostly Merchant and Military Navy members. To guard them an army division was formed called the Veterans Guard of Canada. Veterans of WWI were invited to join in order to leave the younger men for war duties.
The first two camps opened were in Ontario at a former resort hotel in Gravenhurst and at the Mimico Reformatory, near Toronto. Both were quickly converted to P. O. W. camps.
On August 15, 1940, Mathew attended a recruitment event in North Bay for the Gravenhurst facility and soon found himself “back in the army”. On June 2, 1941 he was assigned to the Camp at Mimico.
It was only a couple of months later, on August 14th that he finished his shift at 13:30 hours and was given a pass until 07:00 hours on the 15th. He never did report for his shift and was identified as “absent without leave”.
It was 5 days later that the body of a soldier was found in the Keating Cut off Villiers St. near Cherry Beach in Toronto’s east end. The body was found in front of the Russsell Construction Company dock by a night watchman.
A Court of Inquiry was held on September 10, 1941 and heard four witnesses. The night watchman explained the details of finding him. The commanding officer reported going to the morgue and identifying him.
A Toronto policeman reported that he had gone to the scene and had the corpse removed to the morgue. He notified the Military Police.
The 4th witness was the Toronto coroner Dr. W. J. O’Hara, who presented the information from an autopsy done by Dr. H. Erb who found “death due to drowning”.
The finding of the three Military officers of the Court was as follows: “The court gave no finding”.
“According to the evidence”, the inquiry is “unable to place the blame on any individual”, and that “Pte. Solomon was not on duty.”
He was awarded a Memorial Cross and his personal effects were sent to his wife, Laura. His remains were delivered to Southampton and the local funeral director, Mr. H. Harmer, who provided the required services for his burial in the Saugeen Village Cemetery.
His wife Laura passed away in 1979 at the age of 78.
May They Rest in Peace.
Researched and Written by:
G. William Streeter November 4, 2020
