After four years of grinding war, the conflict was finally turning in the Allies’ direction. It was September 1918, and all through the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, Canadian troops were joining their British Allies for a major offensive against the Germans.

In the early morning of September 27, all four Canadian divisions attacked at Canal du Nord. Among the troops was 29-year-old Findlater John Charles Crang, a carpenter who, before the fighting was over, would become a hero to his brothers-in-arms.

Sergeant Crang, a sniper, “was instrumental in taking command of his unit when all of the officers were killed and secured their intended objective,” says Crang’s grandson, Robert Crang. Shot in his thigh during the battle, he later received the Military Medal for his actions.

“The wound gave him a 10 percent disability pension the rest of his life,” Rob Crang adds.

Fin Crang was born in Timsbury, Somerset, England in 1889. He was 15 years old when he left school. His father died in 1897 and Fin, his mother, and his two sisters emigrated to Canada in March of 1905. Fin enlisted in January 1916 with the 181st Battalion, but served in France with the 44th Battalion. He was honourably discharged on July 2, 1919. Three years later he married Marie Gregson.

Crang served as an officer in the Second World War. Afterwards, he and his wife opened a store and a garage station in Brandon, Manitoba, which remained in the family until the 1970s. Fin Crang died in 1963.

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