L/Bdr. R. G. Nicoll
"NICOLL, Gnr. ROBERT GUNN, M/4154, 3 Field Regt., Royal Canadian Artillery. 25th July, 1943. Age 13. Son of William and Annie Nicoll; husband of Nellie May Nicoll, of Hayes, Kent, England. A, C, 44"
The grave of Robert (known to the family as Robbie) is located in Plot A, row C grave 44. It is the third grave from the end of the row. When you stand in row C looking at the grave, that is looking to the south southeast, the view in the background is of the hills south of Regalbuto and Agiara. The headstones of soldiers in the Canadian army have either a regimental crest or the Canadian Maple Leaf carved at the tope of the stone. When we visited, Robbie's headstone had a red geranium on the right and an orange gazania in front of it. It is identifiable by these flowers in most of the photographs which we took at the cemetery; for example, in the top and bottom photographs it is in the center of the photograph, the third headstone in from the outside verge.
The shape of the headstone is the standard for World War II Commonwealth graves; straight sides with a gentle arch on the top. Those for Canadian soldiers have either a regimental crest or a maple leaf (as in Robbie's case) in a circle carved at the top of the stone. Below this is the inscription:
M.4154 GUNNER
At the bottom of the headstone, below a cross, is the inscription:
TO LIVE IN HEARTS
Note: Nellie gave birth to Robbie's only son, several months after his death. They later moved to Edmonton, Alberta where they live at this time.
The death of Robbie Nicoll is recorded in regimental and battery diaries:
An extract from the War Diary(1) of the 3rd Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery:
"Place: mr 365955, Date 25 July 43, Sunday
. . .On arrival at the Regtl area a quieter time was anticipated, but shortly after arrival, at approximately 1515 hours, literal hell broke out in the Regtl gun area when a shell landed in the very center of the Regtl Headquarters area. It was followed by many others, and when the dust and smoke had cleared away it was found that there were 1 dead and 6 wounded, and when all noses in the Regt had been counted the total casualties were found to be two dead and eleven wounded. . ."
An extract from the War Diary(2) for July of the 19th Battery, 3rd Cdn. Field Regt.
"The first casualty occurred when Sjt. G.J. Jack was killed in an unfortunate accident on the third day of the campaign. During the shelling received near Nissoria, L/Bdr. R.G. "Robbie" Nicol (sic.) was killed while working at his director. Both men were popular with the battery and their loss was keenly felt."
The Second World War Book of Remembrances(3)
As with others who were killed in the service of Canada in World War II, Robbie's name is immortalized by being listed in the Second World War Book of Remembrance at the Peace Tower in the Houses of Parliament in Ottawa. The last entry on page 198 reads "L/Bdr. Robert Gunn Nicoll RCA"
Observations:
From these (and the date of his death which is given on his grave stone) we conclude that Robbie was killed in the counter battery fire on 25 July at map reference 365955 near Nissoria, at about 3:15 in the afternoon, while working at his director. (A director is a sighting device which is used on a field artillery piece to ensure that all guns in a battery are firing in exactly the same direction).
A "L/Bdr" -- "Lance Bombardier" -- is the equivalent of an acting corporal in the infantry. It was unusual for "other ranks" (that is non-commissioned personnel) to be mentioned by name in war diaries. In the regimental diary the only casualty of the action who is mentioned by name is a Captain who was wounded -- he may have died of his wounds later, as he is also buried at Agira, with date of death indicated as August 3. Of the various casualties which occurred in the regiment during the month, Sgt. Jack, the first casualty, and Robbie, are the only ones mentioned by name.
It is interesting, also, to note that Robbie's rank was given as L/Bdr. in the war diary and in the Book of Remembrance , whereas his rank on his headstone is listed as Gunner. In the next row is the grave of another member of the RCA where the rank is listed as L/Bdr. This appears to indicate that Robbie's headstone is not correct.
Note:
The extract from the War Diary gives the exact map reference (mr) of the location where Robbie was killed. My initial attempts to translate this into geographic coordinates have not been successful. It should be possible to identify the place of Robbie's death within a few meters from this map reference.
References:
- War Diary of the 3rd Canadian Field Regiment, July 1943, page 17, Archives Canada
- War Diary of the 19th Battery, 3rd Canadian Field Regiment, July 1943, page 2, Archives Canada
- The online Book of Remembrance
