445999 Private Robert Campbell attested into the 55th Battalion and was sent as a reinforcement to the 15th Battalion where he was taken on strength in May 1916. He was initially assigned to No. 2 Company but was moved to the Battalion’s Grenade (Bombing) Section later that same month. He took part in the battalion’s trench tour at Hill 60 in Belgium in mid May as well as the assault on Observatory ridge on 3 Jun during the battle of Mont Sorrel. In June there were more trench tours at Hill 60 fin late June and mid July before the battalion moved to France for the Somme campaign which began in September. He would have taken part in the Somme fighting at Pozieres throughout early and mid September and the assault against Regina Trench on Thiepval ridge on 26 Sept. On 8 Sept the battalion’s bombing section had been heavily engaged in support of the 16th Battalion in Death Valley.

On the evening of 9 October just before being relieved, battalion HQ was situated in the notorious Sunken Road and a German artillery shell hit a platoon of men killing almost all of them – although those men are not mentioned by name, it is probable that he was one the 16 men wounded, killed and/or missing from that incident. His 15th Battalion Record of Services card and the Battalion Part 2 Daily Order #68 that reports him as Killed In Action. His remains were never located or if located, never identified and as a result he is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial.

NOK: Son of the late John E. Campbell, and Euphemia E. Barter Campbell, of Bonaventure, P.Q.

J.E. Campbell (F) PO Box 2, Cullen’s Brook, PQ