On this day in 1918, the Germans finally forced heroic Londoner Buster Reid out of the First World War.
Wounded for the fourth time in that "war to end all wars," George Eric (Buster) Reid, DSO and Legion of Honour, had to leave the fields of France, bloody but unbowed.
Reid would survive his last war wound and be home in London in time for the Armistice. He would know he had taken part in one of Canada's greatest military victories, the Battle of Amiens.
It was the Canadian Corps that helped lead the way at zero hour (4:20 a.m.) on that Aug. 8 in a surprise assault near Amiens, north of Paris.
British general Sir Henry Rawlinson planned the offensive. He lulled the enemy into thinking the feared Canadians -- always seen by the Germans as an "omen of a coming attack," to quote military historian B. H. Liddell Hart -- were deployed elsewhere in France.
The deception was a complete success. The Canadians and Australians were "matchless attacking troops (who) surged irresistibly over the enemy's forward divisions," in Hart's words.
British tanks also tore through the German lines.
On the first day alone, 15,000 German soldiers were taken prisoner and 400 artillery pieces captured.
A recent book, Amiens Dawn of Victory by James McWilliams and R. James Steel, provides many details about a battle too often overlooked.
The offensive by Rawlinson's British army and its Allies so stunned the Germans that their chief general described it as "the black day of the German army in the history of the war . . . the war must be ended." The Kaiser also said the defeat at Amiens meant the war must end.
Still, the Germans dug in for the last months of the war, having given up thoughts of victory after Amiens, but still hoping for a favourable peace.
Reid is a worthy symbol for all the London-region soldiers at Amiens.
As one of 3,868 Canadian casualties on Aug. 8, he was one Canadian hero who was not around for the battle's finale a few days later.
Reid's family, who lived at 262 Central Ave., received the terse message that he had suffered a "gunshot wound scalp, severe."
Reid had been taken to the British Red Cross hospital at Rouen, France, and would spend two months recovering from the bullet wound.
He was back in London on Nov. 2, 1918, where he soon entered the family box manufacturing business. After the war, he continued to be active in the military and was promoted to the rank of colonel. He died of an embolism in 1938 at the age of 44. There were full military honours at his funeral, held at St. Paul's Cathedral.
Reid's father, Capt. George M. Reid, had served in the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. Born on Dec. 1, 1893, Reid had been a cadet at what is now Central secondary school. In 1910, he went to McGill University as a student.
He enlisted in October 1914, shortly after the war broke out, as a private in a Montreal battalion. Promoted to lieutenant while still in Canada, he was transferred to 3rd Infantry Battalion (Toronto Regiment).
Wounded in fighting at Givenchy in June 1915, he returned to duty in about a week. In October 1915, Reid was wounded more seriously and came home to Canada on leave for three weeks.
He then returned to Britain, where he underwent surgery on his wounded hand. By September 1916, he was back in action.
At Vimy Ridge, in April 1917, Reid's battalion captured the first guns taken by Canadians in the action. He was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order medal for his bravery and leadership.
The official gazette account of the honour says: "(Reid) led his company with great skill and energy. He finally led them to the successful assault of the guns, capturing four field guns, one machine gun and over 50 prisoners."
Reid's service in the war took a brief hiatus in June 1917 when he married a Scottish woman, Lewisa Macdonald, in Paris. They had met in London,
England, during the early months of the war.
That August, he was back in action in the fighting at Hill 70. Strathroy's Sir Arthur Currie, a great leader at Amiens, had assumed command of the
Canadians. Reid may have been wounded again in this battle.
On July 14, 1918, he commanded the Colonial company -- including soldiers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa -- during a huge Bastille Day parade at Paris.
French president Raymond Poincare presented Reid with the Legion of Honour for his gallantry.
The Londoner "had the unique experience for a full-grown man of being kissed on both cheeks by male lips," say the 1918 Christmas Echo, a London magazine-styled publication of the era.
Then he was wounded for the final time at Amiens, having fought on till the end was at last in sight. It was for others to carry on.
For all its startling and sudden success, Amiens did not end the war.
It continued, tragically and ferociously, for another 13 weeks. The Canadians suffered almost 43,000 casualties in those final weeks, about one-fifth of their total for the entire war.
But as a fine book about this great triumph says, the first rays of peace could be seen on Aug. 8, 1918.
Amiens did prove to be the dawn of victory.
For that, Reid and his fellow heroes should never be forgotten.