Private Rankin Wheary

Private, 26th Battalion, Infantry (Army).

The Legacy Voices Project -

Blacks in the CEF-Not No.02 Construction BN

In the infantry.

Wheary had enlisted at Woodstock on 10 Jan. 1916 and two days later was taken on the strength of the 104th at Camp Sussex. He proceeded overseas and trained in England throughout the summer and fall. In December he was posted as a reinforcement to the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles in France, joining his new regiment on 7 December. His service in the trenches over the next four months culminated in the battle of Vimy Ridge from 9 to 14 April 1917.

At the battle’s end Private Wheary reported sick with chilblains and trench fever. He was invalided back to England for treatment and convalescence.

In August, 1917 Private Wheary was posted to the 13th Reserve Battalion in August and in March 1918 returned to France the 26th.

From April through July this New Brunswick unit had seven tours in the trenches south of Arras followed by major actions at the battle of Amiens, the second battle of Arras in the approaches to the Drocourt-Quéant Line, and the battle of the Hindenburg Line at the Canal du Nord.

On 7 Oct. 1918, when the battalion was preparing for the advance to Cambrai, Wheary was killed by enemy artillery fire near the town of Raillencourt. He is buried in Bourlon Wood Cemetery near Cambrai.

The Legacy Voices Project -

Blacks in the CEF-Not No.02 Construction BN

In the infantry.File to be digitized at LAC