Owen Steele’s final words home from the front

“I believe the climax of our troubles will be reached within the next few days, (after which the day of peace will quickly draw near), though they will undoubtedly bring trouble to many. Jim and I are in the best of health and spirits, and I trust we may remain so. …  This will be my last letter for a short while.”
— Owen Steele

Lt. Owen William Steele’s last letter home was composed June 30, 1916, the day before a day that changed the world — and everything he knew back in his island home of Newfoundland.

The Battle of the Somme started on July 1, and was one of the bloodiest days in modern warfare. Here in Newfoundland, to this day, July 1 is Memorial Day: a commemoration of the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel, which had a devastating effect on the Newfoundland Regiment.

Steele was among those who survived the battle unscathed, but fate was looming. As Sandra Gwyn wrote in her Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry on Steele:

This was Steele’s last letter. On 1 July 1916, the opening day of the battle of the Somme, 778 members of the Newfoundland Regiment went over the top; 68 answered the roll-call the following morning. Steele was one of a small cadre of officers who had been held back to help rebuild the unit if necessary. But on the 7th he was severely wounded by an enemy shell while acting as billeting officer at the nearby village of Englebelmer. He died the next day.

Steele’s letters home, distributed at first to family members, have become invaluable records over the years, to help generation after generation understand this part of our history.

July 1 is also, of course, Canada Day. I grew up with that combination of sombre sentiment and national flag-waving. It might seem odd, but it’s how the day rolls. We grieve and remember in the morning (if you have never been to the National War Memorial, between Water and Duckworth streets, for a Memorial Day service, I recommend it) and, if the mood strikes, wave a flag and watch some fireworks later.

The words of Owen Steele and others help ground me to why Memorial Day still matters so much.

In 2016, as part of the centennial commemorations of Beaumont-Hamel, CBC Newfoundland and Labrador carried extensive live and documentary coverage that Memorial Day.

Here it is: