Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthNovember 3, 1893
Place of BirthPort Daniel, Bonaventure County, Quebec
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs. Chatterton Ramier (mother), Port Daniel, Quebec
Trade / CallingLather
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental Number199006
Service RecordLink to Service Record
Battalion6th Light Trench Mortar Battery
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentFebruary 26, 1916
Age at Enlistment22
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathOctober 25, 1970
Age at Death76
Buried AtSt. James Anglican Cemetery, Port Daniel, Quebec

Ramier, Peter

Lance Corporal Peter Ramier enlisted in February 1916 and served for three years in Canada, Great Britain, France and Belgium. He was wounded three times but he survived the war and returned home in March 1919.

Peter was the son of John Thomas Ramier and Charlotte Chatterton of Port Daniel, Bonaventure County, Quebec. John and Charlotte were both born in Quebec and they were married in New Carlisle, Bonaventure County in 1888. They had at least seven children including sons George, John, Peter (born 3 November 1893), Daniel Lloyd, Bernard and Alfred. Port Daniel is on Chaleur Bay in the Gaspé, and Peter’s father was both a farmer and a fisherman. When the 1911 census was taken Peter was 16 years old, living at home and working in a sawmill. By the time he enlisted he was living in Kenora, Ontario and working as a lather.

Peter signed up in Kenora on 26 February 1916, joining the 94th Overseas Battalion. He was 18 years old and next of kin was his mother Charlotte in Port Daniel. After training over the winter the Kenora recruits were sent to Port Arthur in May 1916 to join the rest of the unit. They left for Quebec on 9 June and spent a short time at the military camp in Valcartier, north of Quebec City. The battalion embarked for England on the SS Olympic at the end of the month, arriving in Liverpool on 6 July. The following day Peter came down with the mumps and he was a patient at Moore Barracks hospital for three weeks. While he was there he was transferred to the 32nd Reserve Battalion.

Peter trained in England until March 1917. During that time he spent four months in the hospital due to illness (vd). On 21 March 1917 he was transferred to a front line unit, the 28th (North West) Battalion, and sent to France. He joined the battalion in the field in mid-April, just after the Battle of Vimy Ridge. A few weeks later his unit took part in an offensive operation at Arleux and Peter was wounded on 7 May, suffering a shell concussion. He spent a week recovering at a field ambulance.

Later that summer the Canadians were moved to the Lens area for the Battle of Hill 70 (15-25 August 1917). Shortly before the battle Peter was sentenced to two days Field Punishment No. 1 for being absent without leave for 1/2 hour. During the assault at Hill 70 he was wounded a second time, suffering another shell concussion on 21 August. He was back with his battalion after just a few days and on 28 August he was attached for duty to the 6th Trench Mortar Battery. He was sent on a course in November and rejoined the battery two days before Christmas.

On 2 January 1918 Peter had two weeks leave in the UK and later that month he was back in the hospital for another two months, due to his chronic vd. He rejoined the 6th Trench Mortar Battery on 21 March. On 11 May he accidentally injured his hand when he dropped the mortar gun barrel while firing at enemy aircraft. He spent a week at a hospital in Rouen then recovered for five weeks at a convalescent depot. He was discharged to the Canadian base depot near the end of June and he was back with the 6th Trench Mortar Battery in early July.

The final period of the war, known now as the Hundred Days Offensive, started in August with the Battle of Amiens. On 1 September Peter was promoted to Lance Corporal and on 27 September he was officially transferred to the 6th Light Trench Mortar Battery. The Canadians crossed the Canal du Nord at the end of September and on 4 October Peter was wounded again, this time suffering mustard gas poisoning. He was sent to a field ambulance then to a casualty clearing station. On 14 October he was invalided to England on the HT Brighton and admitted to the 1st Western General Hospital in Liverpool.

On 11 November, the day of the Armistice, Peter was moved to King’s Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital. He recovered there for another month, getting discharged on 11 December and then having ten days furlough. When he returned from furlough he was posted to the General Depot and he served in the UK for another two months. He embarked for Canada on 28 February 1919, arriving at St. John’s on 6 March. He had two weeks landing leave and he was discharged on 29 March in Quebec, listed as medically unfit for further service with Port Daniel as his intended residence.

During the 1920s Peter spent time working in Pennsylvania, Washington State and Montreal. By 1930 he had returned to Port Daniel and he lived with his parents and helped out on the family farm. Health issues, including arthritis and a chronic heart condition, made it difficult for him to work and he collected a small veteran’s pension. He enlisted again in the Second World War, signing up in New Carlisle, Quebec on 6 July 1940, at age 46. He joined No. 5 Company of the Veterans Guard of Canada and he was stationed at Isle Maligne in northern Quebec, where a large power station was located. The men lived in tents and after about nine months there Peter was unwell. He was sent to Arvida Hospital near Saguenay, and then to Saint Sauveur. He was discharged from the army in May 1941.

Peter’s father had died in September 1940 and he left Peter the family home, a farm house located on several acres of land on the outskirts of Port Daniel West. For a few years Peter did seasonal work in Montreal and lived in Port Daniel with his mother when he wasn’t employed. He was married on 28 September 1943 but the marriage lasted less than a year. He was never legally separated or divorced and he and his wife had no children. Peter continued living on his farm in Port Daniel and in 1954 he hired Mrs. Sadie Mattice (née Cooper) as a housekeeper and caretaker for his mother. Sadie was born in Montreal on 30 November 1909 and baptized as Mary Sarah Victoria Cooper. Her grandparents lived in Port Daniel and she was raised there after the death of her mother in 1912.

Sadie became Peter’s common-law wife and she was known as Mrs. Ramier. Peter retired from farming in the 1950s although he still maintained a large garden on his property. His mother passed away in July 1965, at age 99. During the winter of 1969-70 Peter and Sadie stayed in a cottage at Quae Quae Camp, on the outskirts of Corbeil, Ontario. They returned to their farm house in Port Daniel West in the spring. Peter passed away in Port Daniel on 25 October 1970, shortly before his 77th birthday. He is buried in St. James Anglican Cemetery along with parents and his brother George. Sadie died in 1989 and she’s buried in St. Andrew’s United Cemetery in Port Daniel.

By Becky Johnson

Ramier-Peter-90 94th-1916-05-27b

Headstone photos courtesy of Cemeteries in the Gaspe Area, by Morris Patterson: http://gogaspe.com/computer/


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