Francis Ledwidge
July 31, 1917: The Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, begins at what used to be the village of Passchendaele in Belgium, but was basically now a bombed-out wasteland.
Among those who died that day was Francis Ledwidge. Born August 19, 1887 in Slane, County Meath, Ireland, about 30 miles northwest of Dublin, working menial jobs such as coal mining made him a trade union activist, and he joined the pro-independence political party Sinn Féin.
He met the writer Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany, who gave him a desk job at his castle, and access to his large library. Thus inspired to write his own poetry, Ledwidge completed Songs of the Fields, which Lord Dunsany published in 1915.
Ledwidge enlisted in the British Army because he saw the advancing German Empire as the greatest threat to the Irish people, not the British Empire that then controlled it. He served at the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915, continued to write, and mailed his work back to Lord Dunsany so it could be published. Although still an Irish patriot, he was dismayed when he learned of the Easter Rising of 1916, fearing it would do more harm than good, and losing a friend to execution in its aftermath.
In a letter home from the front, he wrote:
Oh what a pleasant world 'twould be,
How easy we'd step thro' it,
If all the fools who meant no harm,
Could manage not to do it!
How easy we'd step thro' it,
If all the fools who meant no harm,
Could manage not to do it!
On July 31, 1917, Corporal Francis Ledwidge was serving with a battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers that was road-laying in preparation for an assault, at a spot called Hell Fire Corner for the frequency of German shelling, 78 miles west of Brussels. (It's actually closer to London, 165 miles, than it is to Paris, 167.)
A Catholic Mass, with rain falling, was delivered outdoors by an army chaplain, Father Devas. Without wine for Communion, tea was offered instead. He reported that Ledwidge took a sip of his tea, and then a German shell landed next to him and exploded. There was nothing left of him. An Irish tricolour was later raised as a memorial at the spot where he died.
Lord Dunsany republished all of Ledwidge's work that could be collected in a single volume in 1919, allowing him to be claimed as a patriot poet by both the United Kingdom and, after 1922, the independent Republic of Ireland.
Ledwidge wasn't the only British soldier who was a notable poet but not an Englishman to die in service on that day. Ellis Humphrey Evans was born on January 13, 1887 in Trawsfynydd (pronounced "Trous-VEN-yith"), Gwyendd, Wales, about 140 miles north of Cardiff and 70 miles southwest of Liverpool. By the time he was 11, he was already writing poetry; at 20, he won his 1st poetry contest. At a poets' meeting in 1910, he was given the "bardic name" Hedd Wyn: "Hedd" ("Heth") meaning "peace," and "Wyn" meaning "white" or "pure." Hedd Wyn: Pure peace.
He took the name to heart, refusing to enlist at the outbreak of war in August 1914, believing that he could never willingly kill anyone. In "Rhyfel," meaning "War" in the Welsh language, he wrote, when translated into English:
Farming was considered a "reserved occupation" and exempt from the draft, but the Evans family had 2 sons of draft age. In early 1917, Ellis enlisted so that his younger brother Robert wouldn't be drafted. In June, under his birth name, Private Ellis Evans he joined the 15th Service Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Upon his arrival on the Continent, he wrote, "Heavy weather, heavy soul, heavy heart. That is an uncomfortable trinity, isn’t it?"
Before sunrise on July 31, the Germans began shelling Pilckem Ridge, and the 15th attacked. Hedd Wyn was shot in the stomach, and was carried to a first aid post. He asked the doctor, "Do you think I will live?" The doctor did not, and, at 11:00 that morning was proven right.
Wyn was buried in the Artillery Wood Cemetery in Boezinge, Belgium, a 3-minute walk from Ledwidge's monument. About a mile and a quarter down the next road is the Welsh National Memorial Park, which includes the spot where Wyn was hit.
A statue of Wyn stands in his hometown, with an inscription he had written for a fallen friend:
His sacrifice was not in vain, his face
In our minds will remain,
Although he left a bloodstain
On Germany's iron fist of pain.
In our minds will remain,
Although he left a bloodstain
On Germany's iron fist of pain.
Hedd Wyn, "The Shepherd War Poet," had reached his 30th birthday. Francis Ledwidge, "The Poet of the Blackbirds," didn't quite make it to his own. Neither man ever married, and neither is known to have fathered any children.
In 1992, Huw Garmon starred in the film Hedd Wyn. Although he was the subject of the 1973 documentary Behind the Closed Eye, through 2022, there has never been a feature film about Francis Ledwidge.
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It's unclear how many soldiers, British on one side and German on the other, died in the Battle of Passchendaele, since many men were either literally blown to pieces like Ledwidge, or sank into the mud in what Wyn called the "Heavy weather," never to be seen again. But it may have been over 200,000 on each side, plus that many again who were wounded, inhaled mustard gas and were removed from action that way, or otherwise were no longer available, and thus got counted as "casualties" even though they didn't die quickly.
Canadian writer James Fell, who proudly calls himself a "sweary historian," has said, "Between August and November of 1917, Passchendaele ranks near the top of places you did not want to fucking be":
It was another one of those "hey the Germans are ready to break all we need to do is throw hundreds of thousands of young men in their prime into a hail of gun and artillery fire and we can end this war" ideas that had proven false before, and would prove a crock of shit yet again. Germany was far from ready to collapse, and most of what the offensive accomplished was a metric shit-ton of muddy death.
If this sounds like the American strategy in Vietnam, which added air power but not any effectiveness, then you're paying attention. But the British Empire had other Dominions to throw into it. General Sir Douglas Haig threw Australians and New Zealanders into the mix, and gained no ground. Then he sent Canadians in, over the objection of their commander, General Arthur Currie. By November 10, they had pushed the Germans back a bit, and the battle was over. The idea that the war would last another full year would have further depressed anyone.
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July 31, 1917 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns, 4-1 at the Polo Grounds. Ray Caldwell was the winning pitcher. Charles "Paddy" Baumann, the Yankees' 2nd baseman, went 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Why a man of German descent got the Irish nickname "Paddy," I don't know. George Sisler went 1-for-4 for the Browns.
* The New York Giants swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-7 and 9-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Over the 2 games, Benny Kauff went 6-for-10 with a stolen base and 4 RBIs, Joe Wilhoit went 5-for-8 with 2 walks and 5 RBIs, George Burns (for whom the later entertainer named himself) went 5-for-9 with a walk and 3 RBIs, and Heinie Zimmerman went 4-for-8 with 5 RBIs.
For the Pirates, Max Carey went 5-for-8 with a walk and 2 RBIs, Carson Bigbee went 5-for-7 with an RBI; and Honus Wagner, in his final season, playing 1st base instead of his former shortstop, went 1-for-8 with an RBI.
This was the Dead Ball Era: There were 30 runs scored in this game, but none came through a home run, not even of the inside-the-park variety, despite Forbes Field having deep dimensions everywhere but the right field corner.
* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known under manager Wilbert Robinson, from 1914 to 1931) beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at Redland Field (later Crosley Field) in Cincinnati. Leon Cadore, who would one day pitch 26 innings in one game, outpitched Fred Toney, who, earlier in the year, pitched a 10-inning no-hitter to beat a man who'd pitched one for 9 innings.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Dutch Leonard outpitched Eddie Cicotte. Harry Hooper hit a home run. At the time, Babe Ruth did not bat unless he also pitched. Eddie Collins went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Shoeless Joe Jackson went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 8-5 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Robert "Braggo" Roth went 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs. Tris Speaker went 2-for-5. Frank "Ping" Bodie went 3-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBIs for the A's.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 8-4 at National Park (later Griffith Stadium) in Washington. Ty Cobb went 1-for-5.
* A doubleheader was split at Weeghman Park, later to be renamed Wrigley Field, in Chicago. The Chicago Cubs won the opener, 9-6. The Boston Braves won the nightcap, 8-1.
* And a doubleheader was split at Robison Field in St. Louis. The Philadelphia Phillies won the 1st game, 6-4. Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched a 4-hit shutout, and went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2nd game, 4-2. Over the 2 games, Milt Stock went 6-for-8 with a walk and an an RBI, while Rogers Hornsby went 1-for-4.
