Remembering Pte. Vernon Earle - Died of Wounds July 14, 1916

Vernon Earle was the third of five children born to Edmund Paige and Louisa Clarke (Hadley) Earle. Louisa was a native of Mulgrave, Guysborough County. The couple was residing at Heart’s Content, NL, at the time of Vernon’s birth, but later relocated to Canso, where Edmund worked as a telegraphist with the Commercial Cable Company, Hazel Hill, and Vernon spent his childhood.

Vernon enlisted with the 48th Battalion at Victoria, BC on March 18, 1915. Percy Lumsden, a Canso native who was later killed in Belgium’s Ypres Salient on April 16, 1916, was among his initial comrades. The two parted ways after the 48th arrived in England, as Vernon was transferred to the 27th Infantry Battalion (“City of Winnipeg”) on September 10, 1915.

Vernon joined his new unit in the Belgian trenches on October 1, 1915, serving throughout the winter and spring of 1915-16 on rotation in the Ypres area. On July 12, 1916, Vernon was wounded in the stomach by machine gun fire while on a “ration party” and was evacuated to No. 3 Casualty Clearing Station for treatment. He succumbed to his injuries two days later and was laid to rest in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.

Vernon is one of 72 soldiers whose detailed story is included in “First World War Honour Roll of Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Volume I: 1915 - 1917,” available online from Bantry Publishing.