While metal detecting on a construction site earlier this year, Stephen Kellar of Moncton, NB, found what may have been the find of his life. Buried 6 inches beneath the ground, he found the Silver Memorial Cross belonging to the youngest New Brunswick soldier killed on active duty in the First World War. Pte Clifford Robinson Oulton enlisted in 1916 when he was only 14 years old and was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele on November 1, 1917, aged 15 years 334 days.
On February 1, 1916, Clifford Robinson Oulton from Bridgedale, New Brunswick (now Riverview) joined up with the 145th Battalion out of Moncton. He signed up for the duration of the war, which for him was all too short. The remarkable thing about Clifford Robinson Oulton was that he was only 14 years old when he enlisted.
It's always amazing how things work out, sometimes a quiet word in passing leads to great things, and this is how this story came about.
On Monday, October 30, 2017, Hillsborough Village Councilor Kevin Berry will be attending the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate, in Ieper (Ypres), Belgium to lay a Remembrance Cross for the fallen men from Albert County who died during the Battle of Passchendaele and have no known grave.
