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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Reginald Ezra Drake

In memory of:

Private Reginald Ezra Drake

November 6, 1917

Military Service


Service Number:

193287

Age:

34

Force:

Army

Unit:

Canadian Infantry (Central Ontario Regiment)

Division:

3rd Bn.

Additional Information


Born:

September 23, 1883
Hebert, Ontario

Enlistment:

August 13, 1915
Toronto, Ontario

Son of Minnie Jane Drake of Toronto.

Commemorated on Page 230 of the First World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:
Grave Reference:

Panel 18 - 24 - 26 - 30

Location:


The Menin Gate Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town of Ypres (now Ieper) in the Province of West Flanders, on the road to Menin and Courtrai. It bears the names of 55,000 men who were lost without trace during the defence of the Ypres Salient in the First World War. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and erected by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, it consists of a Hall of Memory", 36.6 metres long by 20.1 metres wide. In the centre are broad staircases leading to the ramparts which overlook the moat, and to pillared loggias which run the whole length of the structure. On the inner walls of the Hall, on the side of the staircases and on the walls of the loggias, panels of Portland stone bear the names of the dead, inscribed by regiment and corps. Carved in stone above the central arch are the words:


TO THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO STOOD HERE FROM 1914 TO 1918 AND TO THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE.

Over the two staircases leading from the main Hall is the inscription:

HERE ARE RECORDED NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN WHO FELL IN YPRES SALIENT BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH.

The dead are remembered to this day in a simple ceremony that takes place every evening at 8:00 p.m. All traffic through the gateway in either direction is halted, and two buglers (on special occasions four) move to the centre of the Hall and sound the Last Post. Two silver trumpets for use in the ceremony are a gift to the Ypres Last Post Committee by an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who served with the 10th Battery, of St. Catharines, Ontario, in Ypres in April 1915."

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

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  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Telegram October 1917. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Telegram October 1917. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper Clipping
  • Article– In honoured memory.
  • Newspaper Clipping– From the Toronto Star for 1 October 1917, page 8.
  • Cap Badge– Cap Badge 3rd Bn (Toronto Regiment).  Pte Drake enlisted with the 92nd Bn (48th Highlanders of Canada) but was transferred to the 3rd Bn as a reinforcement.  Submitted by Capt (ret’d) V. Goldman, 15th Bn Memorial Project team.  DILEAS GU BRATH
  • Cap Badge– Cap Badge 92nd Bn (48th Highlanders of Canada).  Private Drake enlisted in the 92nd Bn but was transferred to the 3rd Bn (Toronto Regiment) as a reinforcement.  Submitted by Capt (ret'd) V.Goldman, 15th Bn Memorial Project Team.  DILEAS GU BRATH
  • Shoulder Patch– Shoulder Patch 3rd Bn (Toronto Regiment).  Pte Drake enlisted with the 92nd Bn (48th Highlanders of Canada) but was transferred to the 3rd Bn as a reinforcement.  Submitted by Capt (ret’d) V. Goldman, 15th Bn Memorial Project team.  DILEAS GU BRATH
  • Attestation Paper
  • Attestation Paper (page 2)
  • Inscription on Menin Gate (Ypres) Memorial
  • Memorial– Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Circumstances of death registers– Source: Library and Archives Canada. CIRCUMSTANCES OF DEATH REGISTERS, FIRST WORLD WAR. Surnames: Don to Drzewiecki. Microform Sequence 29; Volume Number 31829_B016738. Reference RG150, 1992-93/314, 173. Page 847 of 1076.

Learn more about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

To learn more please visit our help page. If you have questions or comments regarding the information contained in this registry, email or call us. For inquiries regarding the names and information found in the RCMP Honour Roll, please email the RCMP.

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