LIEUTENANT D'ARCY REIN WADSWORTH
CANADIAN INFANTRY
18TH OCTOBER 1916 AGE 23
BURIED: CONTAY BRITISH CEMETERY, FRANCE
Aquila non captat muscas - the eagle does not catch flies, what kind of an epitaph is this? It's a Latin proverb, an admonishment to spend your time on worthwhile endeavours not to waste it on trivia, not to get distracted but to concentrate on your goal, just as an eagle only pursues quality prey not flies.
Employed at the Bank of Montreal, D'Arcy Rein Wadsworth enlisted in May 1915 and was commissioned into the Canadian Infantry the following month. Sent to England in June 1916 with the 75th Battalion, he was in Flanders by August and on the Somme in September. Sometime during these months Wadsworth attended a bombing course and afterwards was appointed battalion bombing officer. On 14th October the battalion came out of the trenches at Tara Hill and two days later Wadsworth was mortally wounded whilst taking bombing practice when one of the bombs exploded prematurely. The battalion diary has the bald details. He died two days later.
