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In memory of:

Sergeant Robert Spall

Photo of Robert Spall

Citation(s);

Victoria Cross (VC) United Kingdom
British War Medal
Victory Medal (Inter-Allied War Medal)

Military service

Service number: 475212
Age: 28
Rank: Sergeant
Force: Army
Unit/Regiment: Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (Eastern Ontario Regt.)
Birth: March 5, 1890 Ealing, Essex, England
Enlistment: July 28, 1915 Winnipeg, Manitoba
Death: August 13, 1918

Burial/memorial information

VIMY MEMORIAL
Additional information

Son of Charles and Annie Maria Spall, of Montreal, Quebec.

Additional citations

An extract from "The London Gazette," dated October 26, 1918, records the following:

For most conspicuous bravery and self-sacrifice when, during an enemy counter-attack, his platoon was isolated. Thereupon Serjt. Spall took a Lewis gun and, standing on the parapet, fired upon the advancing enemy, inflicting very severe casualties. He then came down the trench directing the men into a sap seventy-five yards from the enemy. Picking up another Lewis gun, this gallant N.C.O. again climbed the parapet, and by his fire held up the enemy. It was while holding up the enemy at this point that he was killed. Serjt. Spall deliberately gave his life in order to extricate his platoon from a most difficult situation, and it was owing to his bravery that the platoon was saved." 

Related media

First World War (1914 – 1918)

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 504 of the First World War Book of Remembrance.
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VIMY MEMORIAL Pas de Calais, France

Canada's most impressive tribute overseas to those Canadians who fought and gave their lives in the First World War is the majestic and inspiring Vimy Memorial, which overlooks the Douai Plain from the highest point of Vimy Ridge, about eight kilometres northeast of Arras on the N17 towards Lens. The Memorial is signposted from this road to the left, just before you enter the village of Vimy from the south. The memorial itself is someway inside the memorial park, but again it is well signposted. At the base of the memorial, these words appear in French and in English:

TO THE VALOUR OF THEIR COUNTRYMEN IN THE GREAT WAR AND IN MEMORY OF THEIR SIXTY THOUSAND DEAD THIS MONUMENT IS RAISED BY THE PEOPLE OF CANADA


Inscribed on the ramparts of the Vimy Memorial are the names of over 11,000 Canadian soldiers who were posted as 'missing, presumed dead' in France.

A plaque at the entrance to the memorial states that the land for the battlefield park, 91.18 hectares in extent, was 'the free gift in perpetuity of the French nation to the people of Canada'. Construction of the massive work began in 1925, and 11 years later, on July 26, 1936, the monument was unveiled by King Edward VIII.

The park surrounding the Vimy Memorial was created by horticultural experts. Canadian trees and shrubs were planted in great masses to resemble the woods and forests of Canada. Wooded parklands surround the grassy slopes of the approaches around the Vimy Memorial. Trenches and tunnels have been restored and preserved and the visitor can picture the magnitude of the task that faced the Canadian Corps on that distant dawn when history was made.

On April 3, 2003, the Government of Canada designated April 9th of each year as a national day of remembrance of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

 

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