Corporal Francis (Frank) Gordon Best MM (Regimental
Number 42), having no known last resting-place, is
commemorated beneath the Caribou in BeaumontHamel Memorial Park.
His occupation prior to military service recorded as that of a
clerk in a hardware shop, working for a weekly wage of $8.00,
Frank Gordon Best enlisted at the Church Lads Brigade
Armoury in St. John’s – engaged at the daily private soldier’s
rate of $1.10 - on September 2, 1914, a recruit of the First Draft.
Attesting one month later, on October 1, Private Best then
embarked for overseas service two days later again, on
October 3, onto the Bowring Brothers’ vessel Florizel (right –
courtesy of Admiralty House Museum). On the following day
the ship sailed to its rendezvous off the south coast with the
convoy carrying the 1st Canadian Division across the Atlantic.
In the United Kingdom Private Best
trained with the Battalion: firstly on the
Salisbury Plain in southern England;
then in Scotland at Fort George (right);
at Edinburgh Castle; and for three
months at Stobs Camp near the
Scottish town of Hawick.
(Far right above: The Newfoundland Regiment parades at Stobs Camp and is presented
with its Colours on June 10, 1915. – courtesy of Reverend Wilson Tibbo and Mrs. Lillian
Tibbo)
At the beginning of August, Private Best was transferred with the four senior Companies,
‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’, to southern England, to Aldershot, for some two weeks of final training
and a royal inspection in preparation for active service at the eastern end of the
Mediterranean Sea at Gallipoli. ‘E’ and ‘F’ Companies, the last arrivals, were instead sent to
the new Regimental Depot.
It was likely while at Aldershot that, on or about August 13, Private Best was prevailed
upon to re-enlist, on this occasion for the duration of the war*.
(continued)
1023022
*At the outset of the War, perhaps because it was felt by the
authorities that it would be a conflict of short duration, the
recruits enlisted for only a single year. As the War progressed,
however, this was obviously going to cause problems and the
men were encouraged to re-enlist.
On August 20, 1915, Private Best took ship on board the
requisitioned passenger liner Megantic (right above) for
passage to the Middle East and to the fighting in Gallipoli
where, a month later – of which two weeks had been spent
billeted at the British barracks at Abbassia, near the Egyptian
capital, Cairo - on September 20, 1st Battalion landed on the
beach at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
(Right: Newfoundland troops on board a troop-ship anchored
at Mudros, either Megantic on August 29, Ausonia on
September 18, or Prince Abbas on September 19 – Whichever
the case, they were yet to land on Gallipoli. – from Provincial
Archives)
(Right: ‘Kangaroo Beach’, where the men of 1st Battalion
landed on the night of September 19-20, 1915, is in the
distance at the far end of Suvla Bay. The remains of a landingcraft are still clearly visible in the foreground on ‘A’ Beach. –
photograph from 2011)
(Right adjacent: a century later, the area, little changed from
those far-off days, of the Newfoundland positions at Suvla,
and where Private Best served during the fall of 1915 –
photograph from 2011)
On November 26, 1915, Private Best was evacuated through
the 54th Casualty Clearance Station at Suvla and ferried to the
15th Stationary Hospital sited at East Mudros on the Greek
island of Lemnos. Admitted there on November 30, he was
suffering from pyrexia (high fever) and diarrhœa.
(Right: In the latter part of 1915, Allied
medical facilities – a great number of
them tented - almost entirely surrounded
the ever-busy Mudros Bay and its tiny
harbour on the island of Lemnos. – from
Illustration)
(continued)
1023023
The date on which Private Best was discharged from hospital appears not to be
documented, but it must have been before January 16 of 1916, and he must have been sent
from Mudros to Alexandria - to the Sidi Bishr Base Depot there - before that date, because
that was where and when he is recorded as having reported back to duty with 1st Battalion.
(Right: The British destroy their supplies during the final
evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula. The Newfoundlanders
were among the last to leave on two occasions. – photograph
taken from the battleship Cornwallis from Illustration)
When the British evacuated the entire Gallipoli Peninsula in
January of 1916, 1st Battalion was sent to Alexandria, arriving
there on the 15th of that month. From there the
Newfoundlanders had been transferred – rejoined by Private
Best - almost immediately, south to Suez where they were to
await further orders. To that point it seems that the theatre of
the future posting of 29th Division was still uncertain.
(Right: Port Tewfiq at some time just before the Great War –
from a vintage post-card)
(Right: British troops march through the port area of the
French city of Marseilles. – from a vintage post-card)
Two months following, on March 14, the officers and men of 1st
Battalion embarked through Port Tewfiq at the southern end of
the Suez Canal onto His Majesty’s Transport Alaunia for the
voyage to the French port of Marseilles, en route to the
Western Front.
Some three days after the unit’s disembarkation on March 22, the
Battalion’s train arrived at the small provincial town of PontRémy. It had been a cold, miserable journey, the blankets
provided for them travelling unused in a separate wagon. Detraining at the station at two in the morning the Newfoundlanders
still had a long march ahead of them before they would reach
their billets at Buigny l’Abbé.
(Right: the Somme seen from the bridge at Pont-Rémy as it flows
through the community – photograph from 2010)
It is doubtful that any of those tired soldiers paid much attention
to the slow-moving stream flowing under the bridge that they
passed on their way from the station. Some three months later the
Somme would be a part of their history.
(continued)
1023024
On April 13, 1st Battalion marched into the village of
Englebelmer – perhaps some fifty kilometres in all from PontRémy - where the Newfoundlanders were billeted, welcomed
re-enforcements on the 15th and, on the evening of that same
day, were introduced into the British lines of the Western
Front, there to be immediately set to work to improve the
communication trenches.
The Newfoundlanders would also soon be preparing for the British campaign of that
summer, to be fought on the ground named for that meandering river, the Somme.
(Right above: part of the re-constructed trench system in the Newfoundland Memorial Park
at Beaumont-Hamel – photograph from 2007(?))
On June 11, Private Best received his first promotion, to the rank of lance corporal. On the
16th, while the majority of 1st Battalion was undergoing a tour in the trenches, Lance
Corporal Best was working with the Army Service Corps, having been seconded on that
date for an undisclosed period of time, but it appears not to have lasted for longer than two
weeks more, as the subsequent record proves.
At Beaumont-Hamel, on July 1, 1916, during the fighting of that
first day of the Somme, Lance Corporal Best incurred gun-shot
wounds, shrapnel penetrating into the right thigh.
(Right: Looking from the British front line down towards Y
Ravine Cemetery which sits on top of some of the old German
front-line positions. The Danger Tree is visible to the right.)
He was evacuated from the field on the following day, July 2,
to the 87th Field Ambulance, and from there forwarded on the
same day to an un-identified casualty clearing station.
Apparently directly from that CCS, Lance Corporal Best was
transferred on board His Majesty’s Hospital Ship Asturias
(right below) just three days later, on July 5, to be invalided
from France across the English Channel back to the United
Kingdom.
(Right above: transferring sick and wounded from a field ambulance to the rear through
the mud by motorized ambulance and man-power – from a vintage post-card)
Having arrived in England, Lance Corporal Best was admitted
into the 3rd London General Hospital in the Borough of
Wandsworth. There he remained until his discharge on August
5. At that time he was granted the customary ten-day leave
accorded military personnel upon release from hospital. He
was then immediately ordered to Scotland, to duty on or about
August 14, at the Regimental Depot.
1023025
(Right: The main building of what
became 3rd London General
Hospital during the Great War was
opened, on July 1st, 1859, as a
home for the orphaned daughters
of British soldiers, sailors and
marines. – photograph from 2010)
(Far right previous page: Newfoundland patients, unfortunately unidentified, convalescing
at 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth – courtesy of Reverend Wilson Tibbo and Mrs.
Lillian Tibbo)
The Regimental Depot at the Royal Borough of Ayr on the west
coast of Scotland had been established to serve as a base for
the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion some twelve months previously
during the summer of 1915, and it was from there – as of
November of 1915 up until January of 1918 - that reenforcements were being sent to 1st Battalion, at first to the
Middle East, and then to the Western Front.
(Right: an aerial view of Ayr – probably from the period
between the Wars: Newton-on Ayr is to the left of the River Ayr
and the Royal Borough is to the right. – courtesy of the
Carnegie Library at Ayr)
On October 3, the 11th Re-enforcement draft – Lance Corporal
Best one of its non-commissioned officers - passed through
the English south-coast port-city of Southampton to take ship
to Rouen, capital of Normandy, and there to make its way to
the nearby British Expeditionary Force Base Depot for final
training and organization* before joining the parent unit.
(Above right: British troops disembark at Rouen en route to the Western Front. – from
Illustration)
*Apparently the standard length of time for this final training at the outset of the war had
been ten days – although this was to become more and more flexible as the War
progressed - in areas near Rouen, Étaples, LeHavre and Harfleur that became known
notoriously to the troops as the Bull Rings.
Lance Corporal Best, however, was not to spend the usual period of time at the Base Depot
which allowed newcomers to the Continent to prepare for things to come. There being no
other arrivals reported as joining 1st Battalion during this period, he must surely have been
one of the small draft of twelve other ranks recorded in the Regimental War Diary as having
reported to duty with Battalion in the village of Corbie, in the area of the Somme, on
October 8. 1st Battalion had only just returned from the so-called Ypres Salient in Belgium
at seven o’clock on that same evening.
1023026
Four days following their arrival back from Belgium, the
Newfoundlanders 1st Battalion passed to the attack in a sharp
engagement at Gueudecourt, a dozen or so kilometres from
Beaumont-Hamel. It was another ill-conceived affair, with little
- if anything - gained at the cost of two-hundred thirty-nine
casualties on October 12 alone.
(Right above: These are the fields at Gueudecourt across which the Battalion advanced on
October 12, towards the trees on the right horizon which is where the Gueudecourt Caribou
today stands. - photograph from 2009)
Lance Corporal Best was one of those wounded, incurring gun-shot – shrapnel - wounds
in the right buttock. Where he was taken for immediate treatment seems not to be recorded
but he was in hospital in Rouen by the 19th, and on October 25 – once more shipped to the
United Kingdom for treatment - he was for a second time admitted into the 3rd London
General Hospital at Wandsworth.
Lance Corporal Best was discharged from hospital on the
penultimate day of the year, December 30. The normal
sequence of events was followed, and he then enjoyed ten
days of furlough – likely spent in London - until January 8,
before being posted to duty, perhaps to the Regimental Depot
in Scotland, but also – perhaps at least temporarily - to the 2nd
Command Depot.
(Right above: the High Street in Ayr as shown on a postcard of the time – by courtesy of
Reverend Wilson Tibbo and Mrs Lillian Tibbo)
On April 25 and 26, with the 23rd Re-enforcement Draft from Ayr, he once more passed
through the ports of Southampton and Rouen. By then he was a corporal (acting) – having
been promoted on January 17 of the New Year, 1917, and, on this occasion, reporting to
the Base Depot after debarkation, he apparently did spend time at the bull ring as it was
not until June 7 that he, as one of the draft of fourteen officers and ninety-two other ranks
of the day, reported to 1st Battalion in the community of Bonneville.
May of 1917 had been a period when the Newfoundlanders
were moved hither and thither on the Arras front, in and out of
the trenches. Apart from the ever-present artillery, there was
little infantry activity – apart from the marching. At the
beginning of June, 1st Battalion had retired from the line to
Bonneville and spent its time re-enforcing – witness the arrival
of Corporal Best - re-organizing and training for the upcoming
British offensive of the summer – and as it transpired, the
autumn as well.
(Right above: Newfoundland troops on the march in the community of Berneville in early
May of 1917 – from The War Illustrated)
1023027
The Newfoundlanders once again moved north into Belgium –
at the end of June - and once again to the area of Ypres. This
had been selected as the theatre of the British summer
offensive of 1917. Officially named the Third Battle of Ypres,
the campaign came to be known to history as Passchendaele,
borrowing that name from a small village on a ridge that was
one of the British Army’s objectives.
(Right above: Troops file through the rubble of the medieval city of Ypres on their way to
the front in the late summer of 1917. – from Illustration)
The Regimental War Diary entry of July 17 records: Raiding
party of 50 OR under 2/Lt Summers & 2/Lt Field move up to
HARVEY Trench and raid German Trout Line. One prisoner
brought back, enemy killed 5 – Casualties – nil –
(Right: the Yser Canal to the north of Ypres and close to the
area where the Newfoundlanders were deployed on July 17:
the front was on the eastern bank, to the right in the
photograph – photograph from 2013)
Corporal Best took part in that raid of July 17, and for his role was awarded
the Military Medal: ‘This N.C.O. was one of the Scouts in a raid on the
enemy's trenches on the night of 17/18 July, 1917 east of the Yser
Canal. On nearing enemy lines the raiding party were bombed, but
Cpl. Best, being the nearest man, rushed into the trench and drove
the enemy along to the right, thus allowing the rest of the party to
get in without opposition.
Under the Corporal's lead the bombing party accounted for several of the enemy
and took one prisoner. This N.C.O. showed himself to be absolutely fearless and
it was owing to his initiative and courage that the raiding party entered the
enemy's lines without casualties. He voluntarily led the rear guard covering the
retirement to the British lines. (Strength of the raiding party - 2 officers and 50
other ranks).’ - London Gazette, 28th September, 1917
The Newfoundlanders remained in Belgium until October 17 of
that year, 1st Battalion but a small cog in the machinery of the
British Army which floundered its way – and incurred a
quarter-million casualties - across the sodden countryside of
Flanders. Notably they fought in two major engagements, at
the Steenbeek on August 16, and at the Broembeek on
October 9.
There being no evidence to the contrary, it must be assumed that Corporal Best played
some anonymous role at the former. He was most surely at the latter.
(continued)
1023028
The son of Josiah Hollett Best, recorded simply as being an agent
and trademan, of 20 Holloway Street – and later of 4, Haggerty
Street - in St. John's, his own address recorded as 55, Patrick
Street, he was brother to Earle Weston Best to whom he willed his
all, and perhaps also brother to Otto and William.
Corporal Best was reported as having been killed in action while
serving with ‘A’ Company on October 9, 1917, in heavy fighting at
the Broembeek. At home, it was the Reverend A. Shorter of
Harbour Buffet who was requested to bear the news to his family.
(Right above: An innocuous, meandering stream on most days as seen
here, the Broembeek had burst its banks in the autumn of 1917 and
transformed the surrounding fields into a quagmire. – photograph from
2010)
Frank Gordon Best had enlisted at the age of twenty years.
(The photograph of Private Best is from the Provincial Archives.)
Corporal Francis Gordon Best MM was
entitled to the 1914-1915 Star, as well as
to the British War Medal (centre) and to
the Victory Medal (Inter-Allied War
Medal) (right).
1023029