During the First World War, more 600,000 young Canadian men served with the Canadian Corps in the trenches of France.
They collectively provided an extraordinary contribution to the British Empire’s war, and incredibly more than 90 per cent were volunteers. Sadly, victory was not without cost: 66,000 Canadians died and nearly 150,000 were wounded.
Many Innisfil sons and husbands served in the so-called Great War. Among them was Percy Spring.
Spring was born in Innisfil in 1894, one of four children from the union of Peter Spring and Margaret McConkey. The farmhouse in which he was born and raised still stands at 1878 Innisfil Beach Rd.
Spring was 20 years old when war broke out in Europe and then quickly spread across the globe. Initially, Spring remained on the family farm — no one had any notion that the war would be a long one. By the following summer it was becoming crystal clear that the fighting would endure for many years and require Canada to raise its contributions from a single division to a full corps of four divisions. Consequently, there was a major push for new enlistments.
Like so many other young men, Spring answered the call, putting his name to attestation papers on Jan. 31, 1916. Records show he was a healthy young man, standing five-feet, 10-inches tall and a trim 164 pounds, hardened by years of farm work. Spring enlisted in the 157th Battalion (Simcoe Foresters) and received his basic training at Camp Borden.
Spring was transferred to the 75th Battalion and sent overseas as a member of a machine-gun team. Over the course of late 1916 and 1917, Spring and the soldiers of the Canadian Corps would prove themselves the equal of any in the war. Spring fought in all of Canada’s greatest battles — including Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres), Arras, the Somme, and Vimy Ridge — and incredibly never received a wound.
At Vimy Ridge, Spring displayed considerable courage. While under fire, he came upon a Canadian soldier with a serious leg injury who was unable do more than painfully crawl. Spring took pity on the man. Despite the bullets whizzing past and artillery shells exploding all around, he took hold of the wounded man’s arms and slowly dragged him back to Canadian lines.
Family lore says that the two men would meet again years later in an insurance office, where the wounded individual expressed his undying gratitude and the two reminisced about their wartime experiences.
Spring served until the end of the First World War. He was commissioned a lieutenant in 1918 and demobilized the following year. Shortly after returning home, he married Vera Audrey Tribble on Sept 24, 1919.
Two decades later war returned and once again Spring enlisted. He served as a recruiting officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Spring’s two sons, Doug and Gerry, also served during the Second World War.
After the war, Percy worked in Canada's Veterans Affairs department to assist returning soldiers.
Spring died on Sept. 26, 1985.
