i knew him only briefly, 70 years later
read the burial office for him -- Remembrance Day 1987 -- fitting as he was the last soldier of the "great war" in MooseFactory

Re archdeacon: Many Anglican Clergy felt it their christian duty th act as recruiting agents. Thts archdeacon was, himself, a native person
--- 30 ---

a. w.

He really had no damned business
In France in 1916. He was a child
of the forest free, a son of the great
river. But the archdeacon said the
king needed soldiers to fight for him.

So with some friends and a little HBC
English he set off to war. What his
thoughts were he never said. What
his entire service record was, none knows.
But one morning this Cree hunter went
over the top, over the top with 300
from his Battalion. Into the morning
mists, into the shellfire, into the machine
guns. At day’s end only he and the
battalion commander were left standing.

Warrior. I fear only this and some forgotten
mention, in some dusty dispatch tells your
story. Accept this poor poem as an eagle feather:
honour from a graceful, and wondering heart.