Randy Evans

Once Angus Garrod had completed his two-year stint with the British Royal Navy he packed his trunk, said goodbye to his father in England, and emigrated to Sarnia.

By 1914, the twenty-six year old bachelor was living at 122 Mary Street and had a labourer’s job at Imperial Oil Ltd.  He had relatives in town and a sister in Stratford – a short hop on the very accessible Grand Trunk Railway.

Civilian life was apparently falling into place for Angus Garrod, with a peaceful future on the banks of the St. Clair River.

But that isn’t what happened.

When the black clouds over Europe erupted into the First World War, Garrod’s sense of patriotism eventually won out.  Like thousands of other Englishmen who had moved in Canada, he volunteered for active service overseas with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces.

He enlisted in Sarnia on Oct. 23, 1914 and, after basic training, found himself six months later docking in England aboard the S.S. Gramian.

Garrod was back in his homeland and in uniform. War had taken him full circle.

Things were not going well for the British Commonwealth and Allied forces when Garrod and his 18th Battalion arrived in France in September of 1915.

The German Army held fortified positions all across France and Belgium, and the area around the city of Ypres was a particular thorn in the side of the Allied brass.  The Canadians were moved into a bulge in the Allied line – the notorious Ypres Salient.

Private Angus Garrod was killed while attacking the enemy on April 10, 1916.

He has no known grave; a fate shared by 20,473 other Canadian soldiers in the First World War.

The London Free Press reported on April 27, 1916:  “Pte. Angus Garrod of Sarnia, killed, was an old British navy man and had seen much previous service.”

Eight days later The Observer had more:

“Pvt. Angus Garrod, whose death was mentioned in yesterday’s casualty list, leaves many relatives here to mourn his loss. They are his aunt Mrs. J. Baker, Martin St. and several cousins including Private Archie Baker, Private Willie Waller and Private Alfred Weston …. Private Garrod had resided in Sarnia for several years prior to enlisting. While here he was employed at the Imperial Oil Company Works.”

Angus Garrod is commemorated on the Menin Gate honouring Allied soldiers killed in the Ypres Salient without a known grave.

His death was publicly cited by the Canadian War Department in its daily casualty lists under the heading: “Sarnia – Killed.”

His sacrifice is cited in Parliament’s Books of Remembrance, and the name “Garrod, A.” is inscribed on the Sarnia Legion’s Enlistee Plaque.

Nevertheless, the name of Sarnia’s Private Angus Garrod does not appear on the city’s Cenotaph.

Lest we forget.