Major
Lee, Gordon D'Arcy
Unit
46th Canadian Infantry Battalion (South Saskatchewan)
Branch
Infantry
Service Component
Canadian Expeditionary Force
Service Number
birth
1894/05/13
Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada
death
1917/05/03
Lens, France
grave
Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-au-Bois, France
Gender
Male
Gordon D’Arcy Lee was born in Stoney Creek, Ontario, on 13 May 1894. He was the son of Erland and Janet (Nettie) Lee.
A farmer, Lee was commissioned as a captain in the 84th Canadian Infantry Battalion at Niagara, Ontario, on 10 August 1915. Prior to the war, he had served four years in the militia, in the 77th Wentworth Regiment. After initial training in Canada, Lee and his unit sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on SS Empress of Britain and arrived in England on 29 June 1916. There, Lee was transferred to the 46th Canadian Infantry Battalion (South Saskatchewan), which would be nicknamed the Suicide Battalion due to the high casualty rates it experienced.
Lee arrived in France on 11 August 1916 and went almost immediately to a bayonet and physical training course. He joined the 46th Battalion in the field on 26 August 1916.
Some two months later, on 3 November 1916, Lee was wounded in the right leg and left thumb by shrapnel. After being treated in hospitals in France and England, and making a full recovery, he was discharged in late December 1916 — although a shrapnel bullet remained embedded in his right leg near his femur. He underwent post-recovery reconditioning before rejoining his unit in France in February 1917. On 13 April 1917, Lee was made an acting major and placed in command of one of the 46th Battalion’s companies. His time in command was to be short; he was killed by a sniper on 3 May 1917.
Gordon D’Arcy Lee is buried in Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-au-Bois, France.
