The Canadian "Winston
Churchill"
By Bob Brehl
Volume
18 Issue 1 Spring 2006
In April 1917, Canadian Private Winston
Churchill Pearson was wounded at Vimy Ridge when a machine gun bullet
tore through his left shoulder. He was only 17 years old at the time.
With great difficulty, he and his
Sergeant, who had a leg wound, made it to an aide station and eventually
to a convalescing hospital in Norwich, England.
While there, his mother, back home near London, Ontario, wrote to
Winston Churchill, who had returned to Lloyd George's cabinet in 1917 as
the Minister of Munitions. (Churchill had been banished from cabinet
after the disastrous Dardenelles campaign and went on to serve time in
the trenches in France.)
Louisa Baskerville Pearson, an avid
reader, named her son in 1899 after the American author and historian
Winston Churchill, who was three years older than his British
counterpart.
Nonetheless, Mrs. Pearson asked WSC - who
by this point had written many books himself - if he would write her
convalescing son with the same name a letter because it would cheer him
up.
On September 5, 1917, Churchill did so.
The succinctness of Churchill's note is amusing. The burdens of war were
heavy and his time, no doubt, was short. It speaks to the character of
the man simply to take the time to write this young soldier.
Dear Sir,
I have heard from your Mother that you would like a line from me, and
I have much pleasure in sending you my best wishes for your recovery.
Yours faithfully,
Winston S. Churchill
Private Winston Churchill Pearson
recovered from his injuries, returned to Canada, and lived a full life
to the age of 85.
