Photo: http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail

William Charles (Charlie) was born January 26, 1897 in Woodroffe, Ontario, son of Thomas and Margaret Saunders. He joined the Ottawa Boy Scouts 11th Troop and became 14th Troop Leader (St. Andrew’s), which led towards him becoming a military cadet from 1913-15.

He moved to Ottawa and was working as a clerk and attending St. Matthew’s Church, when on August 23, 1915, just seven months after his 18th birthday, Charles enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force, #300124. He was assigned to the Canadian Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade as a ‘Signaller’ and was shipped overseas almost immediately. Signaller Charlie Saunders entered the front lines of the Western Front on November 15, 1915 and into the trenches just four days later, along with his ‘chum’, fellow Signalman Jack Heron, where he would remain for the next nine months. It is amazing to think that in less than 90 days, he went from being a teenaged clerk in Ottawa to the battlefield trenches of World War 1.

On April 4, 1916, they are moved to the Salient and from this time onwards, are stuck into the daily actions of trench warfare, a dreadful experience for all servicemen in World War 1. The life of a Signalman was a dangerous one, often having to crawl out ahead of the trenches to signal his colleagues as to actions taking place, or repairing communication wires cut by enemy bombardment.

A good example of what Charlie and Jack endured took place just weeks after their arrival in the trenches. Jack wrote that on April 26, 1916, they were being held in reserve when ‘an exceptionally heavy bombardment’ of the allied lines occurred. In their dugout, the two signalmen received an S.O.S. call for help. They immediately left their hole, which was then blown up a minute later by enemy fire. “Charlie then went out into the field and repaired communications line which had been broken earlier, without regard to personal safety.”

As of July 1, 1916, along with his buddy, Jack Heron, their brigade was involved in the six month infamous action called the Battle of the Somme, a ferocious affair with over one million casualties on both sides, including over 24,000 Canadians. Jack documented in a letter to his friends which was later published in the Ottawa Citizen, many of their activities on the line. He wrote, “No-one expected to live. I was lucky enough to get away with a wound in my leg…Charlie took part in the greatest of the world’s great battles and helped towards its success.”

Charlie received tragic news in June when he found out that his Uncle, William George Saunders, also of Woodroffe, was killed in battle on June 8, 1916.

On September 27, 1916 during action in the Battle of the Somme and in preparation for the specific Battle of Regina Trench which would begin on October 1, the 2nd Brigade war diary documents the heavy shelling they were firing that day, up to 50 rounds per minute, with the brigade itself being subjected to heavy artillery fire including gas attacks. Signaller Charles Saunders is fully involved in this battle near Courcelette, a commune in NW France.

As documented by his chum, Signaller Jack Heron, “When running a wire across open country in open view of the enemy’s lines, a task requiring the greatest of courage, William (Charlie) Saunders was killed.” He suffered severe shrapnel wounds in his legs and was brought to the nearby #9 Casualty Clearing Station. He never recovered from these mortal wounds and died shortly thereafter.

Signaller William Charles Saunders, #300124 and just 19 years of age, 2nd Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, COEF, was buried in the Contay British Cemetery in the Somme valley near the village of Contay, France, along with 1,132 other Commonwealth servicemen.

He rests there today and is remembered at St. Matthew’s, The Anglican Church in the Glebe.