The Icelandic connection - 01.12.2020, Blaðsíða 30

172
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 71 #4
son of Christopher and Cecilia O’Kelly
(nee Morrison) in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
His father and mother were of Irish
decent and both were Roman Catholics.
He had two sisters, Monica born in 1894
and Margaret born in 1897. Christopher
attended several public schools in
Winnipeg and was currently enrolled in
St. John’s College, at the University of
Manitoba in Winnipeg, when the First
World War began.
Cristopher enlisted in the 90th
Regiment of the 144th Battalion
(Winnipeg Rifles), commonly known
as the Little Black Devils on October
10th, 1915 with the rank of Provisional
Lieutenant. In February 26th, 1916, he
served in the 144th (Winnipeg Rifles)
Battalion as a full Lieutenant. The
144th Battalion was part of the Canadian
Expeditionary Force (CEF) and left
for England from Halifax arriving
in Liverpool England on September
the 18th, 1916. Soon after arriving
in England, Christopher O’Kelly was
transferred to the 52nd Battalion (96th
Lake Superior Scottish Regiment) which
was assembled in Port Arthur Ontario
(now Thunder Bay) and joined them in
France. Christopher was now with C
Company, leading No. 9 Platoon, a unit
of 40 men.
The Canadian Corps was comprised
of four Infantry Divisions (120,000 men)
under the command of General Arthur
Currie from B.C. Canada. This was the
first time that all four divisions fought
together on the Western Front, in the
battle of Vimy Ridge in northern France.
The Canadian Corps successfully captured
Vimy Ridge in a hard fought battle from
April 9th to April 12th, 1917 under very
poor weather conditions, with blowing
snow and sleet, where previous attempts
by the British and French had failed.
The offensive continued for another two
months as the Corps moved down the
ridge towards the trenches in the Avion-
Mericourt sector.
At 2:30 am on June 28th, 1917, the
Canadian troops began to move forward
in coordination with a creeping artillery
barrage, which moved forward at one
minute intervals, to provide the men time
to assault the German trenches. O’Kelly
and his men were delayed by several
sections of barbed wire that remained
intact throughout the barrage, causing the
men great difficulty as they
tried to scramble through
them.
As they approached the
first trench the Canadians
came under intense machine
gun fire from the enemy.
O’Kelly’s men reacted swiftly
to this menacing threat
and returned a withering
fire onto the machine gun
positions while Lieutenant
O’Kelly moved forward
tossing grenades at the
enemy position. The German
crew were quickly killed
and O’Kelly brought in the