Edward Nelson Badour – 1883-1917

Jeff Green | Nov 05, 2015

As part of their Soldier of the Great War project, Family and Children's Services of Frontenac Lennox and Addington (FACSFLA) has put together a web page devoted to the memory of Edward Nelson Badour. Badour died on November 17, 1917 after being wounded and captured by German forces one week earlier, on November 10, during the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium. Passchendaele was one of the most deadly battles of the war for Canadian troops, with nearly 16,000 dead (the British lost 275,000 and the Germans 220,000 in the mud at Passchendaele according the Canadian War Museum).

Edward Badour enlisted with the 146th Battalion on March 29, 1916 in the village of Sharbot Lake at the age of 32. His occupation was listed as “labourer”. He was married to Norah Badour (nee Cota) in 1909 and his religion was listed as Roman Catholic. The battalion trained at Barriefield in Kingston, and embarked for Liverpool on September 25 from Halifax. During the training, Private Badour was disciplined once, on August 8, but there is no record of any punishment being handed out.

He arrived in Liverpool on October 6, 1916 and was absorbed into the 95th Battalion. On March 6, 1917 he was posted to the 20th Battalion and arrived in Havre, France on March 9.

Badour participated in the battle of Vimy Ridge with the 20th Battalion. The battalion was given the task of trying to finish off the Passchendaele offensive, which had been ongoing since late July, and the Canadians were successful. In fact, on the day that Edward Badour was wounded and captured, November 10, the battle ended.

“The Canadian Corps launched a final action on 10 November, to gain control of the remaining high ground north of the village near Hill 52, which ended the campaign ...” - (source Wikipedia entry.)

In the war diary prepared for that day there is reference to what the troops were up against.

“Throughout the day the enemy subjected our lines to constant artillery fire, concentrating particularly on the church corner at Passchendaele. This made the carrying of messages, and the evacuation of wounded, extremely difficult. During the evening the Defy Crossing road was under continuous M.G. Fire. Rain commenced at 7 am and was intermittent throughout the day, resulting in the trenches very quickly becoming very bad, in fact, so bad that the men left them at night and lay out in the open.”

What happened to Edward Badour between November 10 and November 17 is not known. The German army only sent notification of his death and his burial site has not been determined. His name is commemorated on the walls of the Menin gate in Ypres, Belgium, where each night of the year at 8 p.m. a local detachment performs the last post in honour of the war dead. His name is also inscribed on page 194 of the Book of Remembrance of WW1. The page is displayed for public viewing in the memorial chamber of the Parliament of Canada on May 4 each year.

When Al Lloyd, the 21st Battalion historian from Kingston, was approached by John Suart of the FACSFLA to research the story of Edward Badour, Lloyd contacted the Sharbot Lake Legion Branch, which is named for the Hollywood family (it is the Hollowood branch because of typo when it was officially dedicated). June Crawford, the branch president, arranged for Edward's nephew, Ron Hollywood to meet with Lloyd.

When interviewed this week by the News for this article, Ron Hollywood said that he did not know very much about his mother's brother Edward.

“I was born in 1935, the baby in a family of 10 boys and 4 girls, on the Hollywood farm across from St. George's Lake. My parents worked from dawn until dusk, we all did, and there was little time to talk about the past,” he recalls.

Coincidentally, 5 of Ron's brothers enlisted for WW2, and served in Europe.

Ron said he does not even remember exactly when five of his brothers signed up for World War 2 since he was only about five years old at the time.

“I was young and the house was very busy. All I knew was they were gone and eventually they came back. All but Herb, who died in battle.”

He does remember when the news of his brother's death was delivered to his mother, early one evening.

“She just sat in a rocking chair by the stove and cried. That I still remember,” he said.

Another of Ron's brothers, Ken, was hit near his right eye by a bullet, which exited through the back of his head. However, Ken did not die from his wound, although he remained in hospital for two years. He died two years ago at the age of 95.

As part of the Soldier of the Great War project, John Suart brought Al Lloyd to the Sharbot Lake Legion branch to meet with June and Vern Crawford of the branch executive and Ron Hollywood. Lloyd presented the materials he had found through his research to them and Suart took three videos. All of this material, including the video, is available at http://www.facsfla.ca/remember. 

“Before, this soldier was just a name on a plaque. We’ve managed to bring him to life,” said Suart. “He was a real person. And that’s worth remembering on Remembrance Day.”