#455315 Private Donald Connor
2ND CANADIAN INFANTRY
BACK IN FRONT OF REGINA Trench, the Canadians still faced being part of a monumental struggle to take it from the enemy. Shortly after Claude Temple was killed, a night reconnaissance was carried out and it showed that the enemy were occupying Regina Trench with large numbers of troops. Then the rain came down and prevented any infantry work, and instead Gough’s Reserve Army carried on by way of artillery preparation only. The British and Canadians facing the spot were left to try and work on their front lines in front of their coveted prize.
As the 2nd Canadian Infantry, an Eastern Ontario battalion, moved into the line there was to be a period of comparative quiet. Among their number was a 22-year-old Scottish emigrant named Donald Connor. From Kingussie to the north-east of Fort William in Inverness-shire, Donald’s father had decided to start a new life with his children following the death of their mother. The family left Glasgow on the SS Numidian in April 1913 and sailed into Halifax. Moving to Ontario, Donald had been farming by the St Lawrence River when war was declared. He served in the Home Guard before deciding to enlist in August 1915 at Cornwall, some 60 miles south-east of Ottawa.
Grave of Donald Connor at 2nd Canadian Cemetery. (Andrew Holmes)
On the morning of 5th October, Donald and the rest of the men underwent a rifle inspection before moving up into support positions near Courcelette. All were in place by 8:40pm, traipsing up through the mud in showery weather. That night Donald was sent out on listening post duty as the Germans shelled the Canadian positions at a derogatory rate. The following morning the guns increased in ferocity, but it was still comparatively quiet compared to the frantic action of late. The enemy seemed to be on the alert, nervous, perhaps anticipating a resumption of the assault on Regina Trench. The Canadians, though, were planning nothing more than continued snooping on their front.
Men went out to inspect the enemy’s wire in front of Regina. That night on Donald’s front, reconnaissances were carried out amid enemy shellfire while the Germans focused particularly on Courcelette and the surrounding area. Donald arrived back from sitting out in front of the lines at dawn and lay down to rest, but during the course of the day a shell struck the spot he had chosen and he was killed outright, a victim of chance based purely on where he chose to relax following his vigil. Twenty-two-year-old Donald Connor was laid to rest at 2nd Canadian Cemetery, plot A.2.