Memorial Cross, Memorial Cross GR V
Report a Mistake- Object Number 19810349-008
- Event 1914-1919 First World War
- Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer --
- Date Made 1919
- Place of Use Continent - North America, Country - Canada
- Category Communication artifacts
- Sub-category Personal symbol
- Department Arms and Technology
- Museum CWM
- Earliest 1919/12/01
- Latest 1919/12/31
- Inscription 130017. L/CPL. A. MARSHALL.; STERLING
- Materials Sterling silver
- Rank Lance-Corporal
- Service Component Canadian Expeditionary Force
- Unit 72nd Canadian Infantry Battalion
- Person / Institution Subject, Marshall, Lance-Corporal Alexander
- Measurements Length 3.8 cm, Width 3.1 cm, Thickness 0.2 cm
- Caption Alexander MARSHALL
- Additional Information Born in Berwickshire, Scotland, in 1882, Marshall enlisted in October 1915. He proceeded overseas to France in August 1916 and was killed in action on 14 November 1916.
- Caption Medals Project- Marshall, Alexander
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Additional Information
Alexander Marshall was born in Berwickshire, Scotland, on 26 September 1882. It is not known when he immigrated to Canada.
A clerk, Marshall enlisted in the 72nd Battalion in Vancouver, British Columbia, on 16 October 1915. At the time of his enlistment, he was married and had one child. After initial training in Canada, he was shipped to England with his unit on SS Empress of Britain on 25 April 1916, embarking in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The unit disembarked in Liverpool on 5 May 1916.
In August 1916, promoted to acting lance corporal, Marshall proceeded to France with the 72nd Battalion. Three months later, on 14 November 1916, he was killed in action southwest of Pozières, during the Battle of Ancre. Marshall was buried in Pys British Cemetery, near the village of Pys, France. When the burials in that cemetery and other small surrounding cemeteries were moved after the war to Adanac Military Cemetery (the name being formed by reversing the name “Canada”), his grave could not be identified. He may be one of the 1,708 soldiers buried at Adanac, but his final resting place is unknown.
Alexander Marshall is commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, on Vimy Ridge, in France.