Lieutenant
Pawley, Norman Howard
Unit
44th Canadian Infantry Battalion
Branch
Infantry
Service Component
Canadian Expeditionary Force
Service Number
birth
1889/12/18
Peel County, Ontario, Canada
death
1917/04/12
Vimy Ridge, France
grave
Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-au-Bois, France
Gender
Male
Norman Howard Pawley was born in Peel County, Ontario, on 18 December 1889. He was the son of William Henry and Margaret Pawley.
Pawley worked in the field of agricultural science before the war. On 3 May 1916, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 195th Canadian Infantry Battalion in Regina, Saskatchewan. After initial training in Canada, Pawley and his unit sailed to England on SS Empress of Britain, embarking in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 31 October 1916.
Pawley’s battalion disembarked in Liverpool on 11 November 1916. Upon arrival in England, it was absorbed into the 32nd Reserve Battalion. Reserve battalions provided reinforcements to Canadian units already in the field, and Pawley was eventually sent to the 44th Canadian Infantry Battalion. In France, he was awarded the Military Cross for his actions during a raid on a German trench.
While taking part in his battalion’s attack on German positions on the Pimple (the highest point on Vimy Ridge) on 12 April 1917, Pawley was wounded in the head and shoulder by shrapnel. He died before his comrades could get him to a dressing station. That day, the 44th and 50th battalions successfully captured the last German strongholds on the highest points of Vimy Ridge. The 44th Battalion took 77 prisoners and captured four machine guns and three minenwerfers (mortars) in the process.
Norman Howard Pawley is buried in Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-au-Bois, France.
Military Cross
“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during a raid on the enemy’s trenches. He led his party with great dash, and personally captured an enemy machine gun. Later, he captured and brought in a prisoner.”
– London Gazette, 23 March 1917, Supplement 30001
