Language selection


Search veterans.gc.ca

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

John Willliam Collins

In memory of:

Private John Willliam Collins

November 6, 1917

Military Service


Service Number:

437320

Force:

Army

Unit:

Canadian Infantry (Eastern Ontario Regiment)

Division:

2nd Bn.

Additional Information


Commemorated on Page 218 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 10 - 26 - 28

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

Send us your images

  • Photo of JOHN WILLLIAM COLLINS– Private John William Collins enlisted in Edmonton with the 51st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force on May 22nd, 1915.He arrived in England on 28 April, 1916 having sailed on the S.S. Missanabie from Halifax, NS. On 9 June, 1916 he was taken on strength with the 2nd Battalion (Eastern Ontario) then wounded at Mourquet Farm on 6 September 1916 and sent to England for treatment and convalescence. Collins returned to France in January 1917 where he was transferred back to the 2nd Battalion. He fought in the Somme and at Vimy Ridge. While serving with the 2nd Battalion at Passchendaele, he was killed in action during the attack on November 6, 1917.
  • Memorial– Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Edmonton Morning Bulletin c.1917. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Inscription on Menin Gate (Ypres) Memorial

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.

Date modified: