Thanks to ‘No Labour, No Battle’
(see the Book Reviews), I now have a bit more information
on Auguste Collet than I did before.
My maternal grandfather, I sadly never knew him, since
as far as I know, he died in France in the 1930s as
the result of a farming accident. A former member of
1RMIJ, he lived at Highlands in St Lawrence, marrying
grandmother Eugenie Courcoux in 1912.
Given that he probably enlisted in June 1917 (thanks
to the regimental number anaylsis), he was clearly conscripted
and would serve with 236th Divisional Employment Company
that was part of 39th Division, and I suspect that he
was very soon thrust into the maelstrom that was Third
Ypres.
It is interesting to note that the cap badge is the
Royal coat of arms. I had not realised that the Labour
Corps badge (of crossed rifle, pick and shovel) was
not instituted until October 1918.
Barrie Bertram
