grave marker, Pawley gravemarker
Report a Mistake- Object Number 20030064-001
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Event
1914-1919 First World War
1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge - Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer --
- Date Made 1917/04/12
- Place of Use Continent - North America, Country - Canada
- Category Communication artifacts
- Sub-category Ceremonial artifact
- Department Art and Memorials
- Museum CWM
- Earliest 1917/04/12
- Latest 1917/04/12
- Inscription (obverse/avers) R.I.P. IN MEMORY OF LIEUT N.H. PAWLEY, 44TH CAN. INF. KILLED IN ACTION. 12.4.17. (reverse/verso) KILLED IN ACTION APRIL 12 1917
- Materials Wood, Steel
- Rank Lieutenant
- Service Component Canadian Expeditionary Force
- Unit 44th Canadian Infantry Battalion
- Person / Institution Subject, Pawley , M.C., Lieutenant Norman Howard
- Measurements Height 83.4 cm, Width 68.4 cm, Depth 5.2 cm
- Caption Norman Howard PAWLEY, MC
- Additional Information Born in 1889 in Peel County, Ontario, Pawley enlisted in the 195th Overseas Battalion in March 1916. Once in France, he was taken on strength of the 44th Battalion in November 1916 and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) on 23 March 1917. He was wounded during the attack on Vimy Ridge, and killed in action three days later.
- Caption Grave Marker
- Additional Information Soldiers marked the graves of the fallen with temporary wooden crosses like this one. After the war, the Imperial War Graves Commission (now called the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) established permanent cemeteries, often moving soldiers' remains from temporary graves to their final resting place. Lieutenant Norman Pawley was one of 3,598 Canadians killed at Vimy. An experienced officer with the 44th Battalion, Pawley had received the Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry" during a raid on enemy trenches in March 1917.
- Caption Grave marker
- Additional Information Soldiers marked the graves of the fallen with temporary wooden crosses like this one. After the war, the Imperial War Graves Commission (now called the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) established permanent cemeteries, often moving soldiers' remains from temporary graves to their final resting place.
- Caption Pawley Grave Marker
- Additional Information This is a rare graver marker made by soldiers for a fallen leader. After the war, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission discarded unofficial grave markers as it established larger cemeteries with regulation headstones. Lieutenant Howard Pawley was killed in action on 12 April 1917 leading his soldiers in the attack on The Pimple, a rise of ground at the northern edge of Vimy Ridge.