Background
Lieutenant Ronald Sutherland Machum was born September 15, 1892 in Saint
John. New Brunswick to Edward R. Machum and Leila R. Harrison. According to
census records, Ronald had three sisters named Elva, Marion, and Elizabeth,
and together the Machum family resided in Westfield, Saint John prior to
war. After attending school, later graduating from Mount Allison
University, Ronald would become a broker in his father’s life insurance
business in Saint John, the Manufacturer’s Life Insurance Company. While
little is known regarding how they met, Ronald would meet a young woman
named Mildred Meredith Walker of Fredericton prior to the war. At
twenty-two years of age, Ronald and Mildred married one another August 19,
1914 in Fredericton, witnessed by his sister Elva. As Ronald’s work was in
Saint John, they would live in the Port City before occupying a family
residence at 230 York Street in Fredericton during the war.
According to records, Ronald stood approximately five feet four inches tall
and weighed a slight one hundred and forty pounds at the time of his
enlistment for service. While he did not have extensive military
experience, Ronald was granted a commission at the rank of Lieutenant in
February of 1915 prior to enlisting at Sussex in November of that same
year. Later, he would be attached to the 55th Battalion at Camp Valcartier
and the 104th, the unit he would sign his officer’s declaration papers with
the spring of 1916 in Fredericton. According to his official service
documents, just prior to leaving for England with the 104th Battalion,
Lieutenant R.S. Machum was twenty-three years old, married, and had
approximately one year of military service in Canada with the 62nd St. John
Fusiliers and 55th Battalion. It is unclear whether he was aware at the
time that his wife, Mildred, was pregnant with their first child prior to
leaving. While he was overseas, Mildred Marion Machum would be born May 31,
1917 at the Maternity Hospital on 260 Princess Street in Saint John.
Documents reveal that after her daughter’s birth, Mildred would move back
to Fredericton where she would find the support of her family as her
husband was away.
Wartime Experience
On June 28, 1916, Ronald embarked from Halifax, Nova Scotia on the S.S.
Olympic for Liverpool, England with the 104th Battalion. Approximately one
week later, Lieutenant Machum arrived in England July 5, 1916 and would
train over the next few months with his unit before landing in France in
the winter of 1916. Just prior to leaving for France, Ronald would sign his
form of will October 31, 1916, naming his wife as his sole beneficiary.
Over the winter and spring of 1916-1917, little is known of Ronald’s
movements with the 104th in France and Belgium; however, between March 15
and October 17, 1917 it appears Lieutenant Machum was back in England on
training with Canadian 5th Division. He would be admitted to a military
hospital in the fall and winter that year at Bramshot for a short period of
time suffering from a skin infection.
By early April 1918, Ronald would again be in France, this time with a
Manitoba Reserve Regiment and then the 52nd Battalion out of Ontario.
According to his active service record, Machum was with the 52nd as they
prepared for the Amiens offensive in early June and late July, a battle
that would begin August 8, 1918, the start of what has been called Canada’s
Hundred Days. Arguably one of Canada’s greatest periods of the war,
Lieutenant Ronald Sutherland Machum was with the 52nd Ontario Battalion in
the early morning on August 27, 1918 near Lens when shrapnel caught him in
the right leg wounding him severely. He was brought back from the front
line to receive medical treatment at No. 1 Casualty Clearing Station and to
amputate his leg, however, medical reports reveal that he bled too quickly.
According to his circumstances of death record, Ronald passed away August
28, 1918 as a result of his wounds. News of his death spread quickly
throughout New Brunswick and was reported in the Daily Gleaner on
Wednesday, October 9, 1918 revealing that his wife had received a letter
indicating Ronald had passed away on the “firing line” and that condolences
were being received from the King and Queen, the Governor General, and
Premier Borden. “Praised by everyone who knew him” Lieutenant R. S. Machum
was twenty-six years of age when he died less than three months before the
Armistice, leaving behind his wife and young daughter, his widowed father,
and three sisters.
Lest We Forget
Lieutenant Ronald Sutherland Machum is buried and remembered with honour at
Ligny-St. Flochel British Cemetery located in Averdoingt, France. According
to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Ronald is one of approximately
six hundred and thirty burials honoured in this cemetery. The cemetery is
about 6.5 kilometers east of St. Pol, off the main road to Arras,
approximately 24 kilometers from Arras.