Green, Russell Edward

Russell Edward Green was born in Thessalon, Ontario, on 27 March 1899. He was the son of James and Sarah Green. The Greens also had a daughter, Mabel, born in 1897. James died 16 days before Russell was born. In 1905, Russell’s mother married James Dunlop, who had four sons, all older than Russell. By 1916, the family had moved to a farm near Meota, North Battleford, Saskatchewan.

A farmer, Green enlisted in the 188th Canadian Infantry Battalion in North Battleford on 26 March 1916. Seventeen at the time, he was under the minimum age for military service (18), so he lied about his date of birth on his attestation paper, claiming that he was born in 1898.

After initial training in Canada, Green sailed to England with his unit aboard SS Olympic on 13 October 1916, embarking in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A month after arriving in England, he was transferred to the 46th Canadian Infantry Battalion (South Saskatchewan). That battalion would earn the macabre nickname Suicide Battalion because it suffered a casualty rate of over 90 percent in the 27 months it was in the field.

Green joined the 46th Battalion in France on 13 February 1917. In late February, he was sent behind the lines for treatment for an ear infection. He rejoined the battalion in early March.

In early August 1917, Green’s pay was withheld because he lost a balaclava and an identity disk while on active duty. Green was killed in action by an enemy shell on 20 August 1917, while on duty as a runner (messenger) in the Amalgam Trench, near Lens, France.

Russell Edward Green is buried in Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-au-Bois, France.