Raymond Arthur Saunders Gunner 41589 Canadian Artillery 2nd Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery 6th Battery April 10, 1896 (on Attestation Form) April 10, 1898 (actual Date of Birth) Hebron, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia September 24, 1914 Valcartier, Quebec Hebron, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia 18 (On Attestation) Actual age 16 5 Feet, 8 Inches Dark Hazel Brown Painter Single Baptist Josiah C. Saunders (Father) Hebron, Yarmouth Co., NS April 25, 1915 17 Killed in action Battle of St Julian Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery, Belgium II. J. 12. Commemorated on Page 35 of the First World War Book of Remembrance This page is displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on January 30 Raymond Saunders was the son of Josiah Cann Saunders (1862-1936) and Bertha L. (Raymond) Saunders (1865-1900). At the outbreak of war, Raymond departed Yarmouth for Valcartier, Quebec to enlist. His medical was completed on September 3, 1914 and officially signed his Attestation on September 24, 1914. He departed Quebec for the United Kingdom on October 3, 1914 sailing on the SS Ivernia. On February 11, 1915 he embarked Avonmouth, UK for France where he served as a Gunner/Driver of an artillery piece drawn by four horses. During the Battle of St. Julian he was severely wounded on April 24 and died from wounds on April 25, 1915. The details of his death are given in the letter written to his father. After his death, Corporal Colin Gernon Palmer Campbell of Weymouth (later Lieutenant Campbell) wrote to Raymond’s father. Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery is located in the town of Poperinge, Belgium. There is a large empty space at the front of the cemetery, apart from one grave, that of Gunner R A Saunders of the Canadian Field Artillery who is buried next to the Cross of Sacrifice. Behind this are the graves which make up Plot 2. The town of Poperinghe (now Poperinge) was of great importance during the First World War because, although occasionally bombed or bombarded at long range, it was the nearest place to Ypres which was both considerable in size and reasonably safe. It was at first a centre for Casualty Clearing Stations, but by 1916 it became necessary to move these units further back and field ambulances took their places. The earliest Commonwealth graves in the town are in the communal cemetery, which was used from October 1914 to March 1915. The Old Military Cemetery was made in the course of the First Battle of Ypres and was closed, so far as Commonwealth burials are concerned, at the beginning of May 1915. The New Military Cemetery was established in June 1915. The Old Military Cemetery contains 450 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 24 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to seven casualties known or believed to be buried among them.

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