Gardiner, Private Earl Edward

Service highlights

  • Birth: 18 January 1894, Lincoln, Nebraska
  • Service number: 727212
  • Unit: 110th (Perth) Battalion, later 58th Canadian Infantry Battalion
  • Enlist date: 13 December 1915
  • Death: 25 June 1917
  • Burial: La Chaudiere Military Cemetery, Vimy, France

A Life and Service Remembered

Earl Edward Gardiner was born in Nebraska in 1894, but his family returned to Canada when he was still young and settled near Kirkton. By 1915 he was working as a farm worker, living the kind of steady rural life that could feel a long way from the world events building overseas.

He enlisted in St. Marys in December 1915 several months after his brother William had enlisted. Earl served with the Perths 110th Battalion and trained through the winter and spring before sailing for England on 31 October 1916 aboard the SS Caronia with his brother Robert. After arrival, he was promoted to lance-corporal, but his story took a sharp turn when he was found by the Military Police without a pass in Worthing. His paybook was marked, and he was reduced back to private. It is an unusually human detail in a wartime record, a reminder that behind the uniforms were young men still learning, still making mistakes, still trying to find their footing.

In March 1917 he was posted to C Company of the 58th Battalion, serving near Vimy Ridge with the 3rd Canadian Division. Within weeks, the battalion took part in the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917, then settled into the demanding pattern of front line duty, patrols, and constant risk that filled the months after.

On 25 June 1917, the 58th relieved units in the forward trenches near Lens and attacked German positions known as Acorn, Able, and Adept Trenches. The positions were captured by noon, and the rest of the day was spent strengthening defenses and patrolling under threat of counterattack and sniping. Casualties were expected. Sometime that day Earl was killed by small arms fire.

His body was brought out that night by a small party that included his brother, Private Robert Gardiner, and Earl was buried at La Chaudiere Military Cemetery near Vimy. His headstone also carries a line of remembrance for his brother Edwin, who has no known grave.

Earl is commemorated on the cenotaph in Rannoch alongside his Brother Edwin. He is also remembered on a memorial tablet that once stood in the old stone church north of Kirkton and is now held at Thames Road United Church, and his name appears on the Exeter War Memorial.

Major battles and operations

  • Vimy Ridge: 9 to 12 April 1917
  • Lens sector, Acorn, Able, and Adept Trenches: 25 June 1917

Learn More

https://canadiangreatwarproject.com/person.php?pid=5235
https://www.friends58th.ca/58heroes.html
https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/5882129
https://rcl236stmarys.ca/cenotaph/gardiner-private-robert-lindsay/
https://rcl236stmarys.ca/cenotaph/gardiner-private-edwin-lincoln/
https://rcl236stmarys.ca/cenotaph/gardiner-private-william-john/
The Fallen, Richard Holt, Private E.E. Gardiner, Pg 25