Boys of the Canadian Railhead, Mons, Belgium, February 18, 1919. (Sherill Zellis.)
Thomas Rayner, service # 167146, died at the Somme Sept 26 1916. His name is on the Vimy Ridge memorial Unit Canadian Infantry, Manitoba Regiment. (Sherill Zellis.)
Thomas Rayner (Sherill Zellis.)
Thomas Rayner. (Sherill Zellis.)
Page one of a letter Thomas Rayner wrote to his sister in Winnipeg, Manitoba about his life at war. (Sherill Zellis.)
Page two of a letter Thomas Rayner wrote to his sister in Winnipeg, Manitoba about his life at war. (Sherill Zellis.)
Thomas Rayner's name on the Canadian National Vimy Ridge memorial. (Sherill Zellis.)

Thomas Rayner

Thomas Rayner died at the Somme September 26, 1916.

Pte. Thomas Rayner enlisted on November 15, 1915, in Winnipeg at age 23. Born in Burton-on-Trent, England, he fought with the 27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion in Belgium and France. On September 26, 1916 he was listed as missing in action at Courcelle, France during the Battle of the Somme and later declared killed in action. He was 26. Rayner’s name is inscribed on the Vimy Ridge memorial.

Do you have an ancestor who served in the Great War? Submit their story and it could be included on this Great War Album website.



Tags

Army (327), volunteered (285), died (126), family (124), killed (112), Vimy (74), letter (71), Manitoba (59), Somme (32), missing (3)
Related Stories

Harry George James

The villagers believed he had liberated them!” Witzke added with a chuckle that “he never mentioned what punishment he received” for going AWOL.

Andrew Owen Kirk

Four months later, on April 9, 1915, he was punished for being “Unshaven on Parade.”

Gordon Brett

Gordon Brett was the forty-eighth Canadian to enlist for naval service.

Lomax Family

All three brothers were lost to the war.

Bruce Poole

His death report indicates he was killed instantly by shrapnel in October 1918, exactly one month before the Armistice.