Major soldier among Saskatchewan’s “Suicide Battalion” remembered

Private Roy E. Freemont Wood of Major, Saskatchewan, was one of thousands of Canadians who gave their lives in the First World War while serving with the storied 46th Battalion — a unit later known as the “Suicide Battalion” for its staggering losses in battle.

Born on Sept. 27, 1885, in Major, Wood was a farmer before enlisting in Saskatoon in April 1915. He joined the Canadian Infantry (Saskatchewan Regiment), 46th Battalion, which drew recruits from across the province and was mobilized in Moose Jaw.

The battalion sailed for Britain that October and arrived in France the following August, where it joined the 10th Infantry Brigade of the 4th Canadian Division. The men of the 46th endured some of the harshest fighting of the war in France and Flanders, suffering more than 1,400 killed and nearly 3,500 wounded before the war’s end.

Private Wood was killed in action on Nov. 8, 1916, during operations in the Somme region of France. He was 31.

He is buried and commemorated at the Albert Communal Cemetery Extension in Somme. Wood was the son of Charles Wood of Clear Lake, Minnesota, U.S.A.