Christopher Patrick John O'Kelly

The Canadian Hero of Passchendaele

At Passchendaele, Christopher Patrick John O'Kelly led his men more than 1,000 yards through heavy fire without an artillery barrage, stormed enemy positions, captured six pillboxes, took 100 prisoners and seized ten machine guns. The fighting did not end there. His company then helped defeat a German counterattack and captured an enemy raiding party during the night. For a young Canadian officer who was only 21 years old, it was an extraordinary day of leadership and courage, one that would earn him the Victoria Cross and secure his place among Canada's most celebrated soldiers of the First World War.

Christopher Patrick John O'Kelly was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 18 November 1895. Before the war he was a student at St. John's College in Winnipeg. With the First World War transforming Canadian life, O'Kelly entered military service, joining the 90th Regiment Winnipeg Rifles in October 1915. He subsequently joined the 144th Battalion and sailed for Britain in September 1916. In February 1917 he was transferred to the 52nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, joining the battalion in France later that month. The quiet life of a university student had been replaced by the trenches of the Western Front.

O'Kelly first demonstrated the qualities that would make him famous during fighting near Avion on 27 and 28 June 1917. Commanding a platoon of the 52nd Battalion, he led his men through heavy wire toward the German trenches. After capturing his objective, he recognized that an enemy machine gun was firing dangerously into his company's flank. Rather than wait for someone else to deal with it, O'Kelly led a bombing party against the position, attacked the crew and captured the gun. His actions were credited with preventing substantial casualties among his men. His Military Cross citation opened by praising his "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty" and specifically emphasized his leadership, personal courage and the example he set to all ranks. The award was officially announced in The London Gazette on 26 September 1917, and its detailed citation was published on 9 January 1918.

Only a few months later came the action that made Christopher O'Kelly a Victoria Cross recipient. On 26 October 1917, during the Battle of Passchendaele, Acting Captain O'Kelly led his company against the formidable German defences on Bellevue Spur. Earlier attacks had been checked at terrible cost, but O'Kelly pushed his command forward under intense fire. With no protective artillery barrage, his men crossed more than 1,000 yards, stormed the crest and began attacking the concrete pillboxes that dominated the battlefield. Under O'Kelly's direction, his company alone captured six pillboxes, ten machine guns and 100 prisoners.

What happened next made the achievement even more remarkable. Later that afternoon O'Kelly's company faced a strong German counterattack and successfully held its position while taking additional prisoners. During the night his men intercepted and captured an enemy raiding party consisting of an officer, ten soldiers and a machine gun. His Victoria Cross citation described his conduct as "most conspicuous bravery" and concluded that the achievements of his company were chiefly due to his courage, daring and ability. The award was published in the Sixth Supplement to The London Gazette, issue 30471, on 11 January 1918. Library and Archives Canada likewise records that his Victoria Cross recognized his leadership at Passchendaele, including the capture of pillboxes and prisoners and the defeat of a counterattack.

O'Kelly's wartime reputation had now been forged in two very different actions. His Military Cross recognized the young platoon commander who personally attacked a machine-gun position to protect his company. His Victoria Cross recognized a company commander capable of keeping men moving forward through one of the most brutal battlefields of the war. A surviving photograph taken near the front on 12 January 1918 identifies him as Captain Christopher Patrick John O'Kelly, VC, MC, wearing the uniform of an officer whose name had become closely associated with the Canadian achievement at Passchendaele.

The war was not finished with him. O'Kelly continued serving with the 52nd Battalion and was wounded during the fighting in 1918. After returning to Canada and leaving the Canadian Expeditionary Force, he eventually rejoined the Winnipeg Rifles. By March 1922 he had attained the rank of Major, the rank by which he is now commonly commemorated. Yet the next chapter of his life would prove tragically short. Away from the battlefield, O'Kelly became involved in prospecting in Northwestern Ontario, a region with which he had developed strong connections through both his military service and postwar life.

In November 1922, O'Kelly and fellow prospector Bill Murray set out across Lac Seul, Ontario, as worsening weather gathered over the lake. They were never seen alive again. Their canoe was later found, and Murray's body eventually washed ashore, but Christopher O'Kelly's body was never recovered. He was just days short of his 27th birthday. It was a haunting end for a man who had survived some of the fiercest fighting of the First World War.

O'Kelly's story, however, did not disappear with him. His original medal group survives in the Canadian War Museum, where it consists of his Victoria Cross, Military Cross, British War Medal and Victory Medal. The museum's preservation of the group provides an unusually tangible connection to the young Winnipeg officer who fought with the 52nd Battalion and became one of Canada's heroes of Passchendaele. The British War Medal and Victory Medal were campaign awards and therefore carried no individual gallantry citations, while the personal citations for his Military Cross and Victoria Cross preserve the specific acts of leadership and courage for which he was decorated.

Major Christopher Patrick John O'Kelly VC, MC remains a remarkable figure in Canadian military history. His story is not simply that of a Victoria Cross winner. It is the story of a university student who became a platoon commander, a company leader and finally a Major, earning two gallantry decorations before the age of 22. At Avion he acted quickly enough to save his men from a machine gun. At Passchendaele he led them across a battlefield that had already defeated others. More than a century later, the words of his citations still explain why his name endures: leadership when the situation appeared hopeless, courage when personal safety offered the easier choice, and an ability to inspire men to continue when the battlefield demanded everything they had.