The 69th Canadian W.E. Coy

A notebook containing the names and details of members of the 69th Canadian Wagon Erecting Company, including my great, great, grandfather - Henry John Melmer - from France, October 1918.

From the Canadian Military Engineers Association: Later in the Spring of 1918, the Germans launched an Offensive in two sectors in the north, intending to reach the Channel Ports. This, too, placed a considerable strain on the Corps of Canadian Railway Troops as they were at once put to work on the construction of broad gauge lines and the elaboration of the light railway system which acted as a feeder to the front line trenches.

In the early Summer of 1918, the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps, the 58th Broad Gauge Operating Company, the 13 the Light Railway Operating Company, the 69th Wagon Erecting Company, and the 85th Engine Crew Company were brought under the Headquarters, Canadian Railway Troops, and the whole formed into the Corps of Canadian Railway Troops.

About the same time, Major-General Stewart was appointed Director of Construction, and as such his duties embraced all construction of a civil engineering character in the zone of the British Armies.

This work continued until the end of July, and at the beginning of August, preparations were being made by the Railwaymen for the work which would be required of them in the attack by the Allies on a 20-mile front beyond Amiens.

The achievements accomplished by the Corps of Canadian Railway Troops in that battle formed a brilliant chapter in their career, and from then on the Railwaymen continued to lend invaluable aid in the successive offensives which, launched on different parts of the front, finally led to the victory.