Walton Foster was a 27 year old indigenous Canadian from Brantford, ON when he attested into the CEF at Valcartier camp, QC on 22 September 1914.
He listed his next of kin as a Mrs. Johnson also from Brantford (Six Nations reserve, Ohsweken) and his occupation as ‘rubber maker’. His attestation record indicated no previous military service and that he was not then a member of the Active Militia. However, several entries in his CEF service file note that he was originally a member of the 2nd Dragoons of the Active Militia before officially attesting into the CEF as a member of the 15th Battalion. Also, a photograph of the 15th Battalion’s Transport Section taken at West Down camp south, Salisbury sometime in 1914 shows him in the uniform of the 2nd Dragoons. The squadrons of the 2nd Dragoons at the time were located in St. Catherines, Burford (detached in 1909 to help form the 25th Brant Dragoons), Queenston, Welland and Grimsby (later St. Ann’s) and the Lickers family was located in Grimsby both before, during and after the war.
It would appear that Lickers joined the contingent from the 2nd Dragoons that went to Valcartier in September 1914 and subsequently it, plus other Militia contingents from the 48th Highlanders, 26th Stanstead Dragoons, 37th Grey Regiment, 97th Algonquin Rifles and 13th Scottish Light Dragoons were joined together to form the 15th Battalion CEF. As the contingent from the 48th Highlanders was by far numerically the largest, the new battalion was officially named the 15th Battalion (48th Highlanders) and it adopted the uniform dress and insignia of the 48th Highlanders. However, later 1914 when the photograph of the Transport Section was taken, many men were still wearing the uniforms of their original Militia Regiment as it would take time to standardize their uniforms. Later photographs of Lickers clearly show him in the uniform of the 15th Battalion.
Initially all men in the 15th Battalion were assigned to one of the unit’s eight infantry companies which were identified alphabetically A through H. Lickers’ name appears on page 7 of the Battalion’s 1915 Nominal Roll as a member of B Company. Having said that, men were also assigned to other roles in the battalion and in Licker’s case he also served in the Transport Section – possibly because he came from a farming background and the 2nd Dragoons were a cavalry regiment. This is supported by a reference to his affinity for handling horses in the 1916 book entitled ‘The Red Watch’ written by John A. Currie who commanded the 15th Battalion in 1914-15. Once the battalion arrived in the UK in October 1914 and before it sailed for France in February 1915, it was reorganized into a numerical four battalion structure and Lickers was assigned to No. 2 Company and was serving in that sub-unit at the time of the battle of 2nd Ypres in April 1915.
“As a matter of fact, there was only one pure bred Canadian in the “Red Watch.” He joined as a transport driver at Valcartier. He was a full-blooded Indian and very proud of it. He had left a family and a good farm to go and see some fighting for the King. When he came to see me, he said he knew our regiment would see some fighting and he wanted to go with us. I asked him if he could handle horses. He said he could so I put him into the transport to his great joy. A very humorous incident occurred in regard to him, shortly after he had reached the Salisbury Plains. He had overstayed his leave one night, by a few hours, and was promptly taken in charge by the quarter-guard, who put him in the guard tent.”
“There was much dismay in the guard-tent at daybreak when it was found that the prisoner had flown. “Breaking out” or “forcing” a guard is a serious offence, so when he was found up in the horse lines a short time later and brought before me at the Orderly Room, matters looked interesting. His explanation, however, was most ingenious, and given with such earnestness that we could not help but accept it. He said that when he woke up before daylight he found himself in a strange tent. He knew it was time for him to go and attend to his horses, so he got out as quietly as possible so as not to disturb his comrades, and had gone about his duties as usual. His story, which was verified, gained him forgiveness. He proved a very good soldier afterwards, and at the Battle of St. Julien, when the transport was shelled out of its quarters at Ypres, and his horses killed, instead of retiring he took a rifle and ammunition, and found his way four miles down into the trenches at the salient, where his comrades were battling with the Huns at close range. He was there wounded, gassed, and taken prisoner. His name was Lickers, and he certainly displayed all the war-like qualities of his race.”
Extract from the “Red Watch” by Col JA Currie
During 2nd Ypres 19-26 April 1915, No. 2 Company was the 15th Battalion’s reserve company and positioned in the town of St. Julien to the rear of the battalion’s main forward line where the remaining three companies (1,3 and 4) were in the valley of the Stroombeck river forward of Gravenstafel ridge. Each company would have detached men to work in the Transport Section responsible for logistical support to their various companies. The passage from the Red Watch suggests that Lickers may have been detached from No. 2 Company to the Transport Section at the time of the battle. No. 2 Company was not hit by the chlorine gas that engulfed the 15th’s forward positions but it was subsequently overrun when St Julien fell to the German flanking assault and many men in No. 2 Company became POWs. Currie’s reference indicates Lickers rejoined No. 2 Company during the battle and was subsequently wounded by shrapnel in the leg and captured. This is supported by the official documents in Lickers’ service file which report him as initially being KIA with a later correction to being a POW.
The majority of the enlisted ranks of the 15th Battalion captured at 2nd Ypres, including Lickers, were interned as POWs at Gottingen camp in Brunswick, Germany. Over the period 1915-1918, numbers of those men were transferred to other camps and in Lickers’ case he was moved to Celle, Soltau and then Hamelin before being repatriated and interned in Holland on 13 June 1918. Following the Armistice, he was repatriated to the UK and hospitalized at King George Hospital in Stamford where he was treated for a prewar spinal injury aggravated by mistreatment as a POW and myalgia. He was moved to No. 16 Canadian General Hospital in Orpington on 19 October 1918 and was discharged from there to 1 CORD (Central Ontario Regiment Depot) in Witley on 12 November 1918.
He married Margaret Foster at St. Paul’s in Farnby, England on 30 December 1918 and was repatriated from Ripon camp to Canada on 11 April 1919 where he was demobilized on 23 April 1919 in St. John, NB. In the 1930’s he was awarded one of the highest compensation awards by the reparations commission for injuries suffered while a POW – a number of 15th Battalion POWs at Gottingen camp, including Lickers, had been used as ‘forced labour’ in a local salt mine) In retirement he worked on his farm in Grimsby, ON and passed away from pneumonia on 18 April 1938 at Christie Street Hospital, Toronto. Walton Foster, ‘served as’ William Foster Lickers is buried in Grave 2, SW ¼, Range 1, Section 6 in Queen’s Lawn Cemetery, Grimsby.
LINKS
Click the link below to read an article written by Brigadier General (ret) Greg Young OMM, MSM, CD (15th Battalion CEF Memorial Project) written for The Falcon and the Six Nations Museum in Brantford. Falcon Article – For King and Kanata 2 Apr 2020
William Foster Lickers | Great War Centenary Association (doingourbit.ca)
