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Canadian Soldier Riot BODELWYDDAN, Wales -- The March wind whips through the countryside. Bitingly cold and from the north, it gusts off the rolling grey Irish Sea, pushing a steady rain sideways. After surviving slaughter amid the mud of the trenches of the 1st World War, this part of north Wales was the last place Canadian soldiers eager to return home would spend the winter of 1918-19. Yet for 5 particular Canadians, this final resting place would become part of mystery. For the deaths of these 5, whose graves are marked at the foot with black crosses in the woods near The Marble Church, are shrouded in legend...
THE RIOT They were killed in a riot that ended in the early hours of March 4th, 1919, a sad and bloody episode in local history. But how these Canadian soldiers ended up shooting their comrades in anger still raises many unanswered questions. Over the years the stories that have been told and retold of the riots have had a tenuous link with the truth. "It's a Chinese whisper sort of thing," says Peter Rosenfeld, of Busybus Tours. According to locals, this story was first heard of by a Toronto lawyer who, on a visit to Wales, heard a tour guide tell of how the Canadian soldiers were buried with dignity but dishonourment for their role in causing a riot. It sounded far-fetched so when he returned to Canada, he did his own research to get to the truth. While mutinies and riots among Canadian soldiers were not unknown, this one was unusual because it ended in bloodshed and the death of 56 people, including 5 local woman and an 11-year old girl.
UNREST AT THE CAMP Stretching across a low hill overlooking the village of Bodelwyddan (pronounced boh-del-WIH-dehn), a camp was ill-suited to handle a shifting population of around 3,000 Canadian soldiers. The men were itching to board boats for Halifax and St. John. There simply wasn't enough boats to transport them in this busy post-war period, but many waited longer than seemed fair. In Canada there were worries over unemployment and doubts about the railway's ability to cope with the demobilised soldiers fanning out across the country. The men knew the longer they were kept in north Wales, the worse their chances of finding work, adding to their anxiety about being held back. American troops, meanwhile, were getting boats bound for the United States straight from France without having to go through Britain, despite the fact they hadn't fought as long as the Canadians. The weather was bad and the men, on the cusp of civilian life, still faced a disciplined military routine. Then, during dinner on 3rd March, the news broke. The ships meant to carry 600 men from the camp to Canada had reassigned to bring the English army back from France.
STUCK IN WALES The riots began on the night of March 4th in a canteen among about 60 men, then grew as gangs broke into the sergeants' and officers' messes. Later, local shops were looted, the target of a revenge attack against the profiteers. The men gathered momentum and soon, virtually all 3,000 were rummaging the streets and causing riot. The local Welsh police were called but with a force of only 12, had no chance. The Welsh army tried to help but without success and shortly before midnight, the English army arrived from local camps around Liverpool and the Wirral. Knowbody knows who fired that first gunshot but it was heard shortly after midnight. The Canadians returned to their camp but only to arm themselves after battering down the locked guns store. They returned to the "front lines" as the full-scale gun battle commenced. By 4am, eight hours after the trouble began, the area was quiet as both sides laid down arms in an eerie realisation of what was happening - allies, friends, colleagues were suddenly trying to kill each other. As dawn broke on 4th March, the camp must have seemed a melancholy sight to military eyes with thousands of pounds worth of food, drink, tobacco, clothing, bedding and equipment having been stolen or destroyed and many laying dead or wounded.
5 BLAMED The shots that were fired that day were largely indiscriminate. Questions also remain about where all the firing came from, especially since all ammunition in the camp was ordered locked up. An emergency enquiry was ordered and 5 Canadian soldiers were quickly charged with incitement to riot and were subsequently found guilty on the afternoon of March 4th. Some say the resultant decision was a political and convenient one as the 5 men were also death victims whose bodies were amongst the 56 now laying in the morgue of a local church. The sentence laid down was that the 5 men should be taken 1 mile offshore and dumped into the sea in a public ceremony of dishonor. The priest, however, fought a verbal objection to this using the religious reason that "...only God would judge a mans soul in death...". At 4:03pm on March 4th, 1919 he achieved a compromise that was to result in the burial of the 5 men with the other 51 victims of that night with human dignity but to allow dishonourment in the form of a symbol - a black, wooded, unnamed cross at the foot of each grave. *"Whatever happened that night..." says Peter with a sigh, "...it's a hell of a tragic story."* IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER The story verbally told along with the above dialogue is based on an accumulation of information from a magnitude of sources that has not been verified and may bear no resemblance to the truth (either partly or wholly). It should, therefore, be considered complete fiction. Under no circumstances should any of this dialogue by used to form the basis of any true occurrences and should be treated in the fashion it is delivered - as a light-hearted story of fiction. *No characters, names or otherwise refer to any individual and no offence is intended.*
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