1915-05-04ii

“Today’s casualty list failed to bring any confirmation of the London report that Pte. Ross Binkley, the well-known football player, had been killed.”

Hamilton Spectator.   May 4, 1915.

In the confusion and horror of the Battle of Langemarck, it was a difficult task for authorities to keep the casualty lists as complete as they, or the anxious families of the soldiers, would have wanted.

Sometimes, fellow soldiers would send messages about the fate of individual soldiers :

“A cable from the son of John Ross Robinson, of the Toronto Telegram, stated that Ross Binkley, the Dundas boy who was formerly captain of the Champion Argonauts had been killed.

“Thomas Binkley, brother of Ross Binley, has wired Ottawa about the matter and received a reply stating that Ross Binkley’s name was not on the casualty lists received. He has also cabled England but has received no reply.”¹

¹ “Hamilton Men Were in Thick of Big Battle.”

Hamilton Herald.   May 4, 1914.

Ross Binkley was manning a machine gun in a section commanded by Lieutenant M. S. Macdonald. Both soldiers were named in the following cable:

“The courage of our men was simply magnificent,” said Lieut. George Smith, Rosedale, of the Third battalion, who is lying wounded in an English hospital. “They just laugh and joke under as terrible a storm of bullets and shells as ever soldiers faced. They never faltered nor hesitated a moment. We started to move up to the trenches on Thursday night from four miles back, and the last half mile were under fire. It was then that Ross Binkley and Lieut. M. S. Macdonald of the machine gun section were killed by the bursting of a big shell.”¹

Two days later, although Ross Binkley’s fate on the battlefield was still not definitively known, the Spectator carried the following lengthy article about him under the headline “Tributes to Ross Binkley : Dundas Lad Had a Host of Friends : Played the Game Like a Real Sportsman” :

“As yet no confirmation has been received of the reported death of Corp. Ross Binkley, the Dundas boy who was a member of the Q.O.R. machine gun detachment with the first Canadian contingent, and who was supposed to have lost his life in the battle of Ypres, when a bursting shell accounted for Lieut. Macdonald, in charge of the machine gun section, and for Binkley. It is generally accepted that the Dundas lad is among the killed.

“The high regard in which Corporal Binkley was held is indicated by the manner in which the news of his death was received in this city, in Toronto, Dundas and other localities. Ross Binkley endeared himself to countless athletic followers throughout the country, and many glowing tributes have been paid to his memory.

“The Toronto Telegram speaks of the former football star as follows, in article :

“ ‘ When the first cables announced the death of that gallant officer, the close friends of Ross Binkley were all of the opinion that sooner or later we would hear that he had gone down. The machine gun section of the Queen’s Own was practically made up of men who in the days before the war were the most intimate of friends. “Bink’ as he was called by his pals, was as close to ‘Made” Macdonald as club mates could be, and more than one was heard to say, ‘If ‘Made’ is gone, ‘Bink’ will be with him.

“ ‘Too true it proved to be and Binkley’s friends had measured him right. Side by side with his officer he went to his death.

“ ‘At home on the rugby field, Binkley could be counted on to take part in every play, to be in every move and supply life and ginger to failing men when it was needed most and so in the grim game of war our football hero played the game. Up in every play and up at the last great play, he went down at the side of his officer, his leader and captain in their last game. Close in life, close in death, the names of Macdonald and Binkley will be written high on the list of war heroes.

“ ‘War is coming home to us with all its grim terrors and untold sadness. The little town of Dundas will be wrapped in sorrow. Ross Binkley was born on the brow of the Dundas valley thirty years ago. The Binkley family is one of the oldest in Wentworth county, and hardly a concession can be found without some connection of the family working one of the farms on it.

‘ ‘Ross was the youngest of a family of many boys, who all left the farm early in life, and the balance of the family moved down the hill into Dundas. His father died when Ross was a small boy, and in the years that have followed, our hero of Langemarck stuck closely to his mother.

“ ‘The hearts of many will go out to this lone mother in her hour of trouble. She has given her best to the great cause.

“ ‘Ross Binkley was a great factor in putting the little Valley Town on the football map. He played in the first game of rugby ever played in the town, and afterwards was captain of the team when they won the intermediate O.R.F.U. title. Binley came to Toronto first when he was 16 years of age and worked with the P.W. Ellis company. He later went to Detroit and Chicago, and after a time returned to his birthplace and spent a couple of years in the town.

“ ‘The call of Toronto was too much, and he came back to start all over again. Shortly after his return he was made captain of the Argonaut seniors and led his team to a Big Four championship. Football enthusisats will regret to learn of the death of this game, frail back field player, for Binkley only weighed 142 pounds the day he captained Argos in the Dominion final.

“ ‘When Binkley enlisted, he gave up a splendid position with Business Systems, Limited. He was to manage the Argonaut team, last year’s Dominion champions, but he chose to answer his country’s call.

“ ‘This soldier boy who gave up his life for his country was a life-long friend of the writer. Kindergarten days, school days, and onto high school, two lads sat side by side, played all the games that regular boys play, and stood fast by each other in all the troubles of youth. The breakaway from home was made together, and the start of life in the strange town made at the same time. The daily troubles of an office boy were discussed under the one bedcover each night, and boyhood days passed into manhood.

“ ‘The pranks of those never-to-be-forgotten days come back with vivid recollecton, and the memory of the dead soldier of Langemarck will be cherished through a life, however long, as one of the brightest and most heroic offerings possible to man. Ross Binkley was a tried and true friend, as game as any Spartan of old, and with hundreds of his fellow countrymen gave all he had, his life, for his country. A noble sacrifice in the great cause of the empire.’ ”²

² “Tributes to Ross Binkley”

Hamilton Spectator.   May 6, 1915.

Finally, on May 10, 1915, it was confirmed that Ross Binkley was dead :

“Over a week ago, it was reported that Ross Binkley, brother of Thomas Binkley, a former Dundas boy, had been killed by the same shell that killed Lieut. Macdonald, of Toronto. As the days passed and official word was not received, the family hoped that a mistake had been made. But all hope was dispelled this morning when word was received by Mrs. Wm. Binkley, Dundas, confirming the former unofficial report that the gallant young officer and former popular idol of the football field had been killed.

“The message was

                                                          Ottawa, May9

Mrs. Wm. Binkley, Dundas,

Deeply regret to inform you 10, 205, Lance. Corp. J. Ross Binkley, Third Battalion, officially reported killed in action.

                                                          Adjutant-General.

“The news was broken to the sorrowing mother by Rev. Walter Nichol, to word was sent on receipt of the message.

“Mr. Tom Binkley, of Klein & Binkley, was deeply affected. The loss of his young brother, who was always a bright, happy boy, struck him very heavily., especially as the long delay since the first report was received had helped build up hope that better news might be received.”³

³ “Ross Binkley Dead; J. V. Young Serious”

Hamilton Times. May 10, 1915

Five days later, the Spectator published the following letter from Ross Binkley, written  on April 18, two weeks before his death on the battlefield:

“Dear Mother – What am I going to say and how am I going to say it? It is a most peculiar thing that since coming to France, there has never been any period of time when I felt like writing, and, as a result, I have written only two letters.

“The morrow may bring a German bullet or a route march, or an inspection by General Something or other, but the only necessary thing for you to do is take heed for it. You don’t know where you are going; you are simply on your way. You don’t know when you arrive somewhere. You pass through villages, the names of which you have never heard before and which you whistle but cannot pronounce. If the end of the march is a billet, you know it will be a barn and that your bed will be of hay or straw, one used before by other troops and as ‘lousy’ as a cuckoo, and one that you must fight the mice to retain.

“The odor of a cow stable directly underneath mingles with that of a pig pen across the barn yard. The budding poet and lovesick swain sings of the new mown hay, but the Canadian soldier is quite sure that hay or straw never could have seen that happy condition.

“And so the days go and the nights pass, and so I suppose the days and nights will pass, until finally the predestined time arrives when the gods decide what the ultimate issue for each of us is to be.

“I believe we are through with the trenches. We have been seasoned, so to speak, and it would appear that when some thousands like ourselves, who are new to the matters of war, get this experience, then we may be entrusted with matters of more moment and importance. When or where this will happen is beyond our knowing. Probably it is best that it is so.

“Of the war and of the situation in general, I can tell you nothing. Every day we can see the aeroplanes and hear the boom of the guns, but only occasionally does a paper reach us. They are our only means of acquiring news. You know and read more about the war than I do. My knowledge is purely local and is confined to the immediate vicinity of our billet.

“I received your letter and am glad that you have had such good health. Am feeling fine and am really enjoying the experiences. Once in a while the ‘homey’  feeling becomes strong and a sight of King and Yonge streets, Toronto, or Dundas would be welcome, but the longer that time is delayed, the more welcome, it will be.”⁴

⁴ “Ross Binkley’s Farewell : Writes Cheerfully to Mother Just Before Death”

Hamilton Spectator.   May 15, 1915.