Norfolk Casualties

196609 -- Pte. Walter C. Lowe [sic] of Port Dover, reported missing since April 9th.
 
 

PORT DOVER

On Saturday last David Lowe [sic] received official notices that his son, Pte. Walter C. Lowe, had been missing since April 9th.

It is hoped that there may be an error in the official records, as a letter from William D. Lowe received Monday of this week by Mrs. Andrew Lowe, sister-in-law of the two lads, shows that there are grounds for hope. The letter is as follows:

Dear Mima: -- I am alive and well except for a bullet hole through my leg. I am in the Ontario Military Hospital in England and I will be laid up two or three months. I need a rest anyway.

I have not seen Walter since I found him wounded. He told me his leg was broken. I pulled him into a shell hole. I had to leave him and go on because one must not stop. The stretcher-bearers come up behind and pick up the wounded so I guess he was picked up before I was. I went on about 200 yards and was hit, too. Did you hear about the Canadians taking 10,000 prisoners? Well, I took 9,000 of them myself. (I hope you don't believe that.)

We are all mixed up here. Russians and English and Canadians, so Walter might be in this hospital for all I know. Mother will get word of where he is and let me know. -- Billie.
 
 

A lightly edited partial transcript of the Port Dover column on 
page 9 of the 18 Oct 1917 issue of Simcoe Reformer.

The parents of Pte. William Lowe* were notified today (Tuesday, 9 Oct 1917) that their son had left Halifax en route for Port Dover. The notice was sent unofficially by a friend who is at present in that city.

Pte. Lowe was severely wounded in the knee, during one of the early drives which the British made when they began to bend the Hindenburg line. The wound later necessitated the amputation of the leg above the knee, 

After picking up his seriously wounded brother Walter, and placing him in a shell hole for greater safety, William went a scant 200 years before he too fell wounded, but was soon picked up by the stretcher bearers.

Walter, however, who should have been picked up before William, was reported missing after the attack and no further particulars have been received by his parents regarding him. 
 

* Compiler's Comment: this surname appears as bother Low -- Walter's spelling -- and Lowe -- William's spelling -- in the historical record. The Reformer most consistently listed it as Lowe, but their  father was buried as David Low.]