PRIVATE FRANK LEWIS PORTMORE
CANADIAN INFANTRY
9TH APRIL 1917 AGE 43
BURIED: CANADIAN CEMETERY NO. 2, NEUVILLE-ST VAAST, FRANCE
War Diary 54th Battalion Canadian Infantry
Vimy Ridge 9 April 1917
Weather, snow & rainstorms. 5.30 am. Bn. attacked, - 350 all ranks in four waves behind 102nd Bn. Frontage LA SALLE to OLD BOOT SAP. Distance about 500 yards. Objective BEER and BLUE trenches. ... Strenuous opposition encountered on our extreme left flank from enemy strong post at OLD BOOT SAP & slight opposition from strong point near BROADMARSH CRATER. All objectives were reached and communication with 42nd Bn. stabilised. ... Our casualties approximately 4 officers & 20 O.R. killed, 5 officers & 100 O.R. wounded - 100 O.R. missing ... "
This was just one episode, for one battalion on one day of the four-day battle for Vimy Ridge, part of the five-week 2nd Battle of Arras. At the end of the four days the Canadians had lost 3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded - but they had captured Vimy Ridge, the high ground that dominated the plain of Douai and had been an Allied objective since the earliest days of the war.
Frank Lewis Portmore, originally one of the 100 missing other ranks, was killed by shell fire in the attack on the ridge. His mother chose his inscription.
