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World War One Roll of Honour

Private William Bernard Dancy
April 24th, 1915
7th Battalion C.E.F. (The 1st B.C. Regiment)
Service Number 17106. Original member of the 7th Battalion C.E.F.
Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium. Age 25
Son of Stephen G. Dancy, 143 Church Rd., Hove, Sussex, England

Born in Hove, England in 1889 William Dancy came to Canada and was a valley resident for three years prior to enlistment. He was a member of the local militia, the 104th Westminster Fusiliers, and was part of that unit's contingent that joined the 7th Battalion C.E.F. at the outbreak of war. Dancy worked in Sardis for several ranchers.

 

Private William Cummins Davis
November 6, 1917
29th Battalion C.E.F. (Tobin's Tigers)
Service Number 790271. Originally enlisted with the 131st Battalion C.E.F.
Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium. Age 20
Son of Harry Robert and Ada Davis, Sardis, B.C.

W.C. Davis was born in Kansas City, U.S.A. October 28, 1897 and was a former member of the 104th Regiment. An original member of the machine gun section of the 131st Battalion C.E.F. and a past member of Chilliwack's local militia regiment, W.C. Davis was killed in action at Passchendaele. For a brief time he was hospitalized with measles at Moor's Hospital, Shorncliffe when he was with the 30th Reserve Battalion at Sandling Camp, Kent. After his recovery, he was trained at the machine gun school at Crowborough for two months. Davis was not pleased when his original unit, the 131st, was disbanded. However, soon afterwards he wrote his parents describing going over the top during the Battle of Lens with the 29th Battalion. The letter was subsequently published in the Chilliwack Progress.

In Sardis he was educated at Vedder River and Sardis Schools and was helping on the family farm when war was declared. For many years he attended Sunday school and was confirmed by Bishop de Pencier a few days before he left for Vernon Training Camp. A memorial service was held for William Davis at St. John's Church, Sardis December 2, 1917. His parents donated a litany desk, made by the Valley City Seating Co. of Dundas, Ontario, to the church complete with memorial inscription.

 

Private Walter James Davis
August 8, 1918
2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles
Service Number 2020212. Originally enlisted with the 11th Regimental Draft, Irish Fusiliers
Demuin British Cemetery, France. Age 28
Son of Mr. C. C. and Mrs. S. M. Davis, Chilliwack, B.C.

W.J. Davis was born in Burks Falls, Ontario in 1889 and became a farmer.  He first joined the 11th Irish Fusiliers of Canada, a regimental draft formed for service with the C.E.F. Private Davis served in France for twelve months, prior to his loss. Prior to the First World War a social group got together that, with the onset of the First World War, organized as the Davis Ford Circle to sew and knit items for servicemen. They chose as their name the surnames of the first two “boys”, Walter Davis and George Ford to enlist from Fairfield Island. George Ford survived the war and returned in 1919.

 

Private Glen Frederick Dickie
August 30, 1917
72nd Battalion C.E.F. (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada)
Service Number 687866. Originally enlisted with the 172nd Battalion C.E.F.
Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-Au-Bois, France. Age 20
Son of Mr. and Mrs. T.E. Dickie, Yarrow, B.C.
Husband of Verna Victoria Dickie, South Sumas, B.C.

Glen Dickie, born in 1896, attended school locally and worked for Ideal Grocery in Chilliwack before enlisting in the 172nd Battalion (Rocky Mountain Rangers) C.E.F. His wife, Verna Dickie formerly of Vancouver lived in South Sumas and the couple had a baby girl only a few months old at the time of her father's death. Prior to being killed he was wounded in the neck and leg and had only recently returned to the front after his recovery. Mrs. Dickie married her husband in 1916 and after his death remarried in 1921 to George William Feeney.

 

Private Osmond Henry Ditch
November 2, 1917
78th Battalion C.E.F. (Winnipeg Grenadiers)
Service Number 1000695. Originally enlisted with the 226th Battalion C.E.F.
St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France. Age 28
Son of William Hamilton Ditch, Minnedosa. Manitoba

Originally born in Minnedosa, Manitoba in 1888, where his father was living at the time of his enlistment, “Harry” Ditch lived in Chilliwack with his aunt, Mrs. H.J. Harding, for five years prior to the outbreak of the war. He worked in the hardware businesses of H.H. Gervan, Menzies Brothers and with Wood, Vallance and Leggatt of Vancouver.  He served with the 6th Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles in Vancouver, B.C. for 15 months prior to joining the C.E.F. Initially he served with the 226th Battalion mobilized at Dauphin, Manitoba and then to another Manitoba Battalion the 78th C.E.F. Harry Ditch who was severely wounded and gassed died of these injuries in the 1st Australian General Hospital in Rouen, France.

 

Private Paul Doutaz
September 27, 1916
7th Battalion C.E.F. (1st B.C. Regiment)
Service Number 429549. Originally joined the 47th Battalion C.E.F.
Regina Trench Cemetery, Grandcourt, France. Age 19
Joseph Frank Doutaz, South Sumas, B.C.

Paul Doutaz was born in Manitoba in 1897 and served pre-war with the 104th Regiment. On March 12th, 1915 Doutaz joined the 47th Battalion (New Westminster) C.E.F. and later transferred to the 7th Battalion C.E.F.

 

Chilliwack Museum and Archives 45820 Spadina Avenue, Chilliwack, BC, Canada V20 1T3 [604.795.5210]