From the News

Death of Pte. J. R. E. Allingham, 10th Battalion, 2nd battle of Ypres.

Medicine Hat News (reprinted in the Red Deer News)

Pte. John R. E. Allingham, 20741, 10th Battalion Alberta Regiment, who was born in Calgary, Alberta, died on 22 April 1915 while serving with the 10th Battalion. His body was not found and he is remembered on the Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium.

This letter is just one example of the anxiety endured by family members when a man was reported missing, and there were no confirmed details of his death.

Dated: May 24, 1916

Pte. J. R. E. Allingham's Death Confirmed

Mrs. Jane E. Allingham, sister of Mrs. E. R. Hill, residing near Gadsby, who never heard of how her son of the fighting 10th died, as the name was not in the casualty lists, advertised the fact and at last heard from one who saw him die.

The following appeared last week in the Medicine Hat News:

Last June the News recorded the sad report of the death of one of the brave "Fighting 10th," a young man well known and highly respected in the city, Mr. J. R. E. (Emerson) Allingham, who made the supereme sacrifice at Langemarck. Soon afterward the war office reported him missing. So for a whole year his mother and friends enduring the anxiety of uncertainty, hope alternating with fear, still thinking word might come from some of the German prison camps.
However, on April 17th of this year the report of Pte. Allingham's death was confirmed. A letter was received by Mrs. Allingham, his mother, from Pte. Victor Ericson [Erickson]¹, late of Manyberries, Alta., but now living at Canyon, Minn. who was also one of the 10th Battalion and returned among the wounded.
Pte. Ericson tells this story. He says he saw Emerson die; that the young man was fighting and was wounded in the side on April 22nd but his wound was dressed and he returned to his post the following day. On that day, April 23rd (1915) he received a rifle bullet in the head and was able only to utter a few words when he passed away.
Losing that position the Canadians had to leave their dead on the field, and Pte. Allingham's body, with others, was never identified. Many of the Hat boys since then have done their bit and many like Pte. Allingham will never return. Canada will mourn the loss of her bravest and best sons, and homes and hearts will be left desolate, but life can hold no greater deed than making the supreme sacrifice in the cause of liberty and freedom and for the protection of home and native land. It must have been a comfort--unusual, perhaps, in the mad strife--that Emerson in his last moment looked into the face of a friend, and was able to send a last message to those at home.
Friends in Alberta have the deepest sympathy for the family.

¹Victor Erickson, 20766, 10th Battalion C.E.F., was a native of Sweden, his mother residing in Canyon, Minnesota. He enlisted with the first Canadian Contingent at Valcartier Camp, Quebec, on 23 September 1914. He had previously served two years with the 21st Alberta Hussars. After returning home from the war, he enlisted a second time at Medicine Hat in late 1916.

Transcribed by: M. I. Pirie