Volker, Lance Corporal Lorne Albert

Service highlights

  • Service number: 476054
  • Rank: Lance Corporal
  • Born: St. Marys, 4 May 1892
  • Civilian life: barber
  • Enlisted: 3rd University Company in Saskatoon, 7 July 1915
  • Reinforcement role: university companies raised to provide reinforcements for Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
  • Hospitalized: 15 to 20 February 1916 with influenza, 6th Canadian Field Ambulance
  • Served: Ypres Salient winter trenches, then Mount Sorrel, 2 to 4 June 1916
  • Promoted: lance corporal about two weeks before the unit moved south toward the Somme area
  • Wounded: gunshot wounds to neck and spinal cord, likely 18 September 1916
  • Hospital care: admitted 19 September to 1 New Zealand Stationary Hospital, later transferred to 1 South Africa General Hospital, Abbeville
  • Died: 11 October 1916 in Abbeville
  • Burial: Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension
  • Headstone inscription: “Till the day break”
  • Remembered: commemorated on the St. Marys cenotaph

A Life and Service Remembered

Lorne Albert Volker was born in St. Marys in 1892. He trained as a barber, a trade built on conversation and steady hands, and at some point he made his way west, living in Saskatoon when he enlisted in July 1915.

He joined one of the university companies, a group created to send reinforcements to Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. Many recruits were students, but the companies were also open to friends and supporters. Whatever drew him to that path, it carried him overseas quickly. By early September he was sailing from Montreal, on the SS Missanabie and by December he was with the PPCLI in France.

His first winter at the front was in the Ypres Salient, where the routine of trench life wore men down. In February 1916 he was hospitalized with influenza, then returned to the battalion in time for Mount Sorrel, a desperate battle where the Patricias were credited with holding the line after devastating losses elsewhere.

He was considered a good soldier and promoted to lance corporal shortly before the unit moved south toward the Somme. In September 1916, the Canadian offensive at the Somme began. Lorne took part in the first day of the attack at Courcelette, and within days he was gravely wounded, shot in the neck and spinal cord. His medical record traces a familiar wartime journey from the front through hospitals, ending in Abbeville where he died on 11 October 1916.

He was buried in the Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension. The short inscription on his headstone, “Till the day break,” feels like something meant for those left behind, a small line of faith and endurance.

Lorne was survived by his parents, Adolphus and Rebecca Volker, who lived on a small farm on Queen Street East in St. Marys, where the Home Building Centre stands today. He was also remembered by a friend, Mrs Marjorie Wells of Portman Square, London, England. His name is carried on the St. Marys cenotaph.

Major battles and operations

  • Ypres Salient trench duty, winter 1915 to 1916
  • Mount Sorrel, 2 to 4 June 1916
  • Somme operations, including Courcelette, 15 September 1916
  • Wounded during the Somme fighting, died 11 October 1916 in Abbeville

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