The last thing Walter Hickmott did before shipping out for service in France was to visit with his little sister.

“He went to the school he had attended and said goodbye to my mother, Ada, the baby of the family,” says William Siddall, Hickmott’s nephew. “She was 7 years old. She never saw him again, a memory she carried the rest of her life.”

Hickmott—“Hicky” to his pals—enlisted on January 7, 1916, with the 99th Battalion (Essex Regiment). It was his birthday, and he had just turned 19. Arriving in England in June, the Kingsville, Ontario, resident was assigned to the 19th Battalion (Central Ontario Regiment) and by September, he was at the front in France. Hickmott was shot in the arm during the Battle of "Vimy Ridge" Ridge in April 1917, and one year later in March, was hit by shrapnel. Neither wound was enough to invalid him back to Canada. By April 1918, he found himself in a firefight with German forces near the village of Boyelles. The Germans attacked, and later in the day, the Canadians counterattacked, forcing the Germans back.

However, some Germans had holed up in a tunnel, and Hickmott was among those charged with driving them out. During the operation, Hickmott and his platoon leader, Lt. George Borthwick, were both killed by the same German sniper.

Both Hickmott and Borthwick are buried at Bellacourt Military Cemetery near Arras, France.

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