Old men declare wars, it’s the youth who fight and die

Tom Slater and Tom St. Amand

        Donald Nichol was 19 when he was taken by pneumonia.

        Norman Brearley was 17 when an exploding enemy shell felled him just after the Battle of Vimy Ridge. 

        And Robert Batey, a kid from Savoy Street, was 15 when he died at the Battle of the Somme.

       When the death of local soldiers in the First World War became known back home in Sarnia, families and friends were stricken with grief. 

       One local writer was shocked by their age, observing that many of those who were dying were fresh out of school.

       “The youngsters are the ones who are paying the toll in this great carnage,” he observed.

          Many young Sarnians did indeed pay the ultimate sacrifice in The Great War, and the trend continued into the Second World War.

          Stanley Teskey, John McKernan, George Esser and James Banks — to name a few — enlisted in their teens. Instead of attending high school or continuing to work, they went to war and died fighting.

          Stanley Teskey was killed aboard a Halifax bomber on a bombing mission over Germany; John McKernan lost his life fighting in the Battle of Normandy; George Esser died in the Battle of Scheldt in the Netherlands, and James Banks made it to the age of 21 before being fatally shot in Northern France.  Certainly older Sarnians distinguished themselves in both wars, but many who left Sarnia to fight and die were young.

          Sixteen percent of the city’s fallen in the First World War enlisted as teens. The median enlistment age was 24 and the median age of those killed just over 25.

          In the Second World War —  “the young man’s war” —almost 40% of Sarnia’s fallen enlisted as teens and 61% who signed up were 21 or under.  Nearly one-third of those killed were between the ages of 17 and 21, and their median age was 23.

          They were not professionally trained soldiers before they enlisted. Many were students, or left jobs as farmers and firemen, machinists and butchers to sign up.  They were ordinary young men who chose to respond in times of extraordinary circumstances.    

          For many, it was the first monumental decision of their lives. No one knew how long either war would last, but they were prepared to accept indefinite absences from home for causes they believed were right.

          Their reasons for enlisting in both wars ran the gamut. Many wanted to be part of a “great adventure;” others wanted an opportunity to travel and earn money or to escape a difficult home situation. 

          A few enlisted to be with their brothers or emulate their fathers, and some went because their friends were doing so. 

          Robert Batey, Norman Brearley, John Dowding, Ross Stevens and others were so eager to enlist they lied about their age at recruitment centres.

          Regardless of their reasons or their age, all put their lives on the line for their country.

          Sarnia is proud of its military heritage—and rightly so.  When duty called, many answered.

          Perhaps U.S. president Herbert Hoover said it best when he noted:  “Older men declare war, but it is youth that must fight and die.”