MOOSE JAW — Fighting in rat-infested trenches was no fun for soldiers during the First World War while facing deadly anti-air flack was likely just as miserable for airmen in the Second World War.
Sidney T. Hampson, James Burleigh Hill and Sir Arthur Charles Edward Ramshaw are three men who faced such horrors of war and are now commemorated on banners in downtown Moose Jaw.
Their biographies appear below, with information taken from the City of Moose Jaw website.
This is part 6 of 8 in a series.
Sidney T. Hampson
Born in 1893, Sidney was 11 when he immigrated to Canada with his widowed mother and seven siblings, homesteading near Morse in a “Soddie” before moving to Moose Jaw. At 13, he helped build the Cecil Hotel on Manitoba Street West and did odd jobs before becoming an apprentice machinist at the Canadian Pacific Railway at age 15.
At age 21, the First World War broke out and Sid joined Moose Jaw’s 46th Battalion in January 1915. Shortly after, he was eastbound by rail in July, sailing to England and transferred to the 10th Battalion, which was in desperate need of replacements.
He was in the muddy, rat-filled trenches by September 1915. A good soldier, Sid was promoted and saw action at the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Hill 70 and Passchendaele, losing many friends. He was wounded in July 1918. After recuperating, he returned to Moose Jaw at war’s end and started working again with CPR.
Bullet fragments remained in his right shoulder his whole life.
Sid married Moose Jaw nurse Mae Sealy in 1928, and they raised two sons, John and Garth, residing on Ominica Street East while he travelled with the CPR. He gave back as CPR fire chief, safety chair, social club president, union president, and chairman of the school board and city parks and recreation board, while he loved sports.
In 1936, Sid returned to France for the unveiling of the Vimy Memorial. He retired from the CPR after 50 years and died two months later at age 71.
The medals he received were the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.
James Burleigh Hill
James Burleigh Hill was born on Nov. 17, 1922, to John A Leroy Hill and Vina Peral Hill of Boharm. He was raised on the family farm with four brothers and one sister.
Burleigh enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on Sept. 17, 1943, and was declared missing in action on Oct. 26, 1944, while flying a mine-laying operation in Heligoland Bight; the aircraft and crew were presumed lost at sea. His squadron number was 166.
James Burleigh Hill is commemorated at Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, United Kingdom.
Burleigh’s brothers, Don and Doug, applied to the Government of Saskatchewan to have a hill formation south of Boharm named after him. However, they learned that an island in northwest Saskatchewan had already been named after him. So, Don and Doug flew to the island and erected a plaque in his memory.
Even though Burleigh had a short life, he served his country of Canada honorably and the family is very proud of him. The medals he received were the 1939-1945 Star, the France & Germany Star, the Defence Medal, the Canada Volunteer Service Medal and the War Medal 1939-1945.
Sir Arthur Charles Edward Ramshaw
Arthur Ramshaw was born on Feb. 18, 1918, in Nokomis, although he resided in Moose Jaw from 1948-52.
Art worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway, with Western Ice Service and with Robin Hood Mills. He farmed in Nokomis and is currently living on the Ramshaw Homestead in that community.
Sir Arthur Ramshaw is a proud member of the Royal Canadian Legion. He served Canada in the Second World War with the 8th Reconnaissance Regiment from 1939-45.
The medals he received were the Volunteer War Service Medal WWII, the 1939-1945 Star, the 1939 France & Germany Star, the Canadian War Medal, the Knight of the French National Order of the Legion Honour, the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal and was awarded the rank of knight for the liberation of France.
