Profile image
Military service
Age:
37
Rank:
Captain
Force:
Army
Unit/Regiment:
Canadian Infantry (Quebec Regiment)
Division:
13th Bn.
Birth:
May 30, 1877
Wolverhampton, England
Enlistment:
September 23, 1914
Valcartier, Québec
Death:
April 25, 1915
Burial/memorial information
Grave reference:
Panel 24 - 26 - 28 - 30
Additional information
Son of William and Rosa M.E. Lees, of Old Ivy House, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, England. Fiancé of Elsie Cotton.
As a former member of The Royal Ottawa Golf Club, Aylmer, Quebec; Captain Lees is commemorated on a plaque in the entrance to the club.
Additional citations
1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal
Digital gallery of Captain Gerald Oscar Lees
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Newspaper Clipping
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Royal Ottawa Golf Club plaque
The Royal Ottawa Golf Club erected a plaque honouring its members who gave their lives in the Great War. -
Document
The historical record of the 13th Battalion (5th Regiment, Royal Highlanders of Canada, tells us that Captain Gerald Oscar Lees was killed in action on 24 April 1915. This is an important distinction, as death on 25 April 1915 would have meant he fell at or near Wieltje (southwest of St. Julien) after the battalion left the area of the battle (northeast of St. Julien). Please refer to the file on Captain Lionel Ward Whitehead for more images, as he was reported as mortally wounded at that time. (VAC CVWM reference page http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/1597021?Lionel%20Ward%20Whitehead) -
Document
Captain Gerald Oscar Lees having been killed on 24 April 1915 would have been on the road to Poelcappelle to the northeast of St. Julien. The only other reported Captain of the 13th Battalion killed in action between the 22nd and 25th was Captain Lionel Ward Whitehead. Research has shown that Captain Whitehead was taken POW, along with Lieutenant Pitblado and Major McCuaig. That leaves Captain Lees as the only Captain of the 13th Battalion whose remains were left in the area, had no known grave and was registered on the Menin Gate Memorial. (Image is Nicholson Sketch 8 with markings by Richard Laughton). -
Document
As the only Captain of the 13th Battalion that was lost in the area of 28.C.6 (trench map coordinates) whose remains we not knowingly recovered, we know that it is his remains that were recovered after the war and buried in the Tyne Cot Cemetery. The CWGC COG-BR shows that he was recovered at 28.C.6.b.3.8 and buried in Grave 59.D.12. The only other Captain killed in that area was Lionel Ward Whitehead, who was taken prisoner and moved to Langemark. -
Document
It is the Graves Registration Report (GRRF) that tells us that the remains in Grave 59.D.12 of the Tyne Cot Cemetery were those of an unknown Captain of the Royal Highlanders of Canada. The 5th Regiment Royal Highlanders of Canada, a militia unit, served in the Great War as the 13th Battalion, Royal Highlanders of Canada. -
Photo of GERALD OSCAR LEES
Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me. From the Annie Boyes collection courtesy of the Simcoe County Archives. http://www.simcoe.ca/dpt/arc -
Photo of GERALD OSCAR LEES
Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me. -
Memorial
Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens -
Grave marker
23 April 2019, grave marker of Captain Gerald Oscar Lees identified by the late Richard Laughton, CEFRG (Canadian Expeditionary Force Research Group) https://cefrg.ca -
Newspaper clipping
From the Montreal Star c.1916. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me -
Newspaper clipping
From the Montreal Star c.1919. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me.
Digital gallery of
Captain Gerald Oscar Lees
Digital gallery of
Captain Gerald Oscar Lees
Digital gallery of
Captain Gerald Oscar Lees
Digital gallery of
Captain Gerald Oscar Lees
Digital gallery of
Captain Gerald Oscar Lees
Digital gallery of
Captain Gerald Oscar Lees
Digital gallery of
Captain Gerald Oscar Lees
Digital gallery of
Captain Gerald Oscar Lees
Digital gallery of
Captain Gerald Oscar Lees
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 24 of the First World War Book of Remembrance.
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