Ralph Ackerman was born in Sarnia on November 16, 1891, the son of Wilbert Albert Ackerman, of 390 Russell Street, Sarnia. He enlisted on August 16, 1915 in Sarnia with the 34th Battalion. At the time, he listed his occupation as switchman, and he was single. He would go overseas with the 34th Battalion, arriving in England in October of 1915. He became a member of the Canadian Army Infantry, British Columbia Regiment, 7th Battalion with the rank of Private. During his time in France, Ralph wrote a number of letters home. The following are portions of a few of them:

To his sister Mrs. A.E. Chambers, living on North Mitton Street, on July 10th, 1916, from “Somewhere in France”:

Dear Sister,

Just a line or two to let you know that I am well and hoping this letter finds you the same. We are having lovely weather over here now and the roads are pretty dry. I had a letter from Dad just before we went into the trenches the last time. I met Andy McIntosh and a bunch of the 70th boys the other day. They had not been in the trenches, but expected to go in soon. It has a fellow a little scared the first time in, but you soon get used to it and don’t pay any attention to all the bullets whistling and zipping round you. I have certainly seen some interesting sights since being over here, and if I get back safe and sound will tell you all about it…. Say, don’t send me any tobacco, for we get all we can use issued to us. We get it in the trenches just the same as when we are out. We also have our mail delivered to the trenches. I suppose it is pretty quiet around town now. I have certainly met a lot of fellows from home here. I met Charlie Warren the other night. He was in the hospital with fever the same time as myself…. I have got a big bunch of German souvenirs. I would like you to see them. There are lots of them to be had, but I don’t bother with them much. I suppose Harold is growing like a weed. There is hardly any need of money over here. We get fifteen francs every two weeks, and we don’t even have to buy tobacco with it. Well Sis, I guess I have told you all the news for this time so will sign off.

From your loving brother, Ralph

To his sister Mrs. A.E. Chambers in August of 1916, from “Somewhere in France”:

Dear Sister,

We have been having nice weather over here. It has been pretty dry. The farmers are all busy cutting their crops. It seems funny to see them cutting grain just a few miles from the firing line… It is pretty near three months now since I landed here. It doesn’t seem that long, but I have had some warm times in that period, and I suppose, will have warmer yet before it is through. We had a mine sprung on our line just recently, a big one too. I thought Fritz was going to send a bunch of our boys up in the air, but we came out lucky. A mine is a tunnel dug under the ground. They generally dig right under the trench and fill it up with high explosives. When it goes off, you would think it was an earthquake the way it shakes the ground. The one he sprung on us was thrty feet deep. I was just a little way from it… We have lots of straw to lay on, and lots of lice and rats for company. The latter are pretty thick.                              Ralph

To his father Albert, living on Russell Street, in January 1917, from France:

 Dear Dad,

It is a beautiful spring day here today, but I suppose you have lots of snow at home. We have been having pretty good weather lately, but pretty cold. We sure had some Christmas dinner. We were pretty lucky this year. This is a list of the few things we had for Christmas, so you can imagine if we enjoyed it or not: roast beef, roast pork, mince pie, fried potatoes, cabbage, water cress, nuts, apples, oranges and a lot more stuff…We had a pretty good time before the day was over. Christmas only comes once a year, and we sure made it a merry one. There are about 40 of us in the bombers and we got our own dinner up. Our officer helped us out a lot. He is an awful nice fellow… Say Dad, I could write a book about France now and what I have seen. I’ve witnessed some sights that some people would give thousands of dollars to see. I have had the pleasure of seeing some nice air duels, only one time, our pilot came out second best, being forced to land in our lines, but the pilot himself was not hurt. Another time an enemy airplane started to fall after a battle with one of our aviators, and his gasoline tank exploded and he came down in one big flame. The pilot was burned so bad that you could not recognize him. He fell within a few feet of where we were stationed. In an attack one day in which I participated, we were accompanied by two tanks. It was a great sight to see them go after Fritz.

P.S. Believe me dad, if I am spared to come home, I will have lots to tell you. Ralph

On September 2nd, 1917, Ralph’s father Wilbert, living at 390 Russell Street, received the following telegram:

Sincerely regret to inform you 602916, Pte. Randolph Louis Ackerman, infantry, officially reported missing August 15th, 1917. Will send further particulars when received. 

Officer in charge of records.

On August 15, 1917, Ralph Ackerman would lose his life while fighting on the first day of the Attack on Hill 70, France.  Ralph Ackerman would later be officially listed as, Previously reported missing, now reported killed in action. Casualty occurred at Hill 70. Twenty-five year old Ralph Ackerman has no known grave. He is memorialized on the Vimy Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. On the Sarnia cenotaph, his name is inscribed as, Ackerman, R.H.

SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, L, N, 2C, 2D, 2G